Two Treatises on Death and Judgment, Treatise · Section 7
SECT. VII.
Uſe 5.
MOreover from this Doctrine we may be informed, of the miſtakes of many Chriſtians, that think they have no ſaving grace, becauſe they are afraid of dying, and becauſe theſe fears deterr their ſouls from deſiring to be with Chriſt: And hence they may perceive that there is another cauſe of theſe Diſtempers, even the ENMIMY of Death that ſtandeth in the way. You think that if you had any Love to Chriſt, you ſhould more deſire to be with him; and that if your treaſure were in heaven, your hearts would be more there; and that if you truly took it for your felicity, you could not be ſo unwilling to be removed to it; for no man is unwilling to be happy, or to attain his end. But ſtay a little, and better conſider of your Caſe. Is it Chriſt that your heart is thus a verſe to, or is it only Death that ſtandeth in the way? You are not, I hope, unwilling to ſee the face of God, nor unwilling to be tranſlated from earth to heaven, but unwilling to die. It is not becauſe you love the creature better then the Creator, but becauſe you are afraid of Death. You may love God, and long to be perfected in holineſs, and to ſee his Glory, and to have the moſt near Communion with him, and yet at the ſame time you may fear this Enemy that ſtandeth in your way: I mean, not only the Pain of death, but principally the diſſolution of our natures, and the ſeparation of the ſoul from the body, and its abode in a ſeparated ſtate, and the bodies abode in duſt and darkneſs. Grace it ſelf is not given us to reconcile us to corruption, and make death as death to ſeem deſirable, but to cauſe us patiently to bear the evil, becauſe of the good that is beyond it. It is not our duty to love death as death. Had it not been naturally an evil to be dreaded and avoided, God would not have made it the matter of his threatning; nor would it have been a fit means to reſtrain men from tranſgreſſion. To threaten a man with a benefit as ſuch, is a contradiction. Enquire therefore into your hearts, whether there be not a belief of heaven, a love to God, a deſire to enjoy and pleaſe him, even while you draw back and ſeem to be a verſe? and whether it be not only a lothneſs to die, and not a lothneſs to be with Chriſt?
For the fuller diſcovery of this (becauſe I find that our comfort much dependeth on it) I ſhall try you by theſe following Queſtions.
Queſt. 1. What is it that is ungrateful to you in your meditations of your change? Is it God and Heaven, or is it Death? If it be only Death, it ſeems it is not the want of Love to God, and Heaven, that cauſeth your averſeneſs: If it be God himſelf that is ungrateful to your thoughts, it is becauſe you deſire not his nearer preſence, or communion with him in the ſtate of glory? or is it only becauſe you fear leſt you have no intereſt in his Love, and ſhall not attain the bleſſedneſs which you deſire? If it be the firſt, I muſt confeſs it proves a graceleſs ſoul, and ſignifieth the want of Love to God. But if it be the latter only, it may ſtand with grace: For Deſire is a true ſignification of Love, though there be doubts and fears leſt we ſhall miſs the attainment of thoſe deſires.
Queſt. 2. Would you not gladly hear the news of your removal, if you might be changed without Death; and tranſlated to heaven as Henoch and Elias were, and as Chriſt at his Aſcenſion? Had you not far rather be thus changed then abide on earth? If ſo, then it ſeems, it is not God and Heaven that you are againſt, but death. Nay if you could reach Heaven by travelling a thouſand miles, would you not gladly take the journey as ſoon as you had got aſſurance of your title to it, and done the work of God on earth? If it were but a Peter, James and John, to go with Chriſt into an exceeding high Mountain, and there to ſee him in glory, (Mat. 17. 12.) would you not gladly do it? It ſeems that thou deſireſt to ſee the Lord, and thy love is to him, though thou be afraid of death.
Queſt. 3. Conſider of the Nature of the Heavenly felicity, and try whether thou love it in the ſeveral parts. One part is our perſonal Perfection; that ourſouls ſhall be free from ignorance, and error, and ſin, and ſorrow, and enlarged for the perfect Love of God; and our bodies at the Reſurrection, made like the glorious body of our Lord, Phil. 3. 21. and wouldſt thou not be thus perfected in ſoul and body? Another part is, that we ſhall live with the ſociety of Angels and glorified Saints: And wouldſt thou not have ſuch company of ſinners, and enemies, and imperfect Saints on earth? Another part is, we ſhall ſee our glorified Head, and be with him where he is, that we may behold his glory. And doth not thy heart deſire this? But the perfection of our Happineſs is, that we ſhall ſee the face of the glory of God, which is the light of that world, as truly as the Sun is the light of this: and that we ſhall be filled up with the feeling of his Love and abound with Love to him again, and perfectly delighted in this Communion of Love, and expreſs in the Praiſes of the LORD, and thus make up the New Jeruſalem, where GOD will place his glorious preſence, and in which he will for evermore take pleaſure. And is there any thing in this that thy ſoul is againſt, and which doſt not value above this WORLD? If thou find that all the parts are ſweet, and the Deſcription of Heaven is moſt grateful to thee, and that this is the ſtate that thou wouldſt be in, it ſeems then it is not Heaven but Death that thou art averſe from, and that maketh thee ſo loth to hear the tydings of thy change.
Queſt. 4. Couldſt thou not joyfully ſee the coming of Chriſt, if it were this day (if thou have done thy work, and art aſſured of his love?) The Apoſtle hath told us by the word of the Lord, that the Lord himſelf ſhall deſcend from heaven with a ſhout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the Trump of God: and the dead in Chriſt ſhall riſe firſt: and then they which are alive and remain ſhall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and ſo ſhall we ever be with the Lord,] 1 Theſ. 4. 15, 16, 17. And this is the doctrine that comforteth believers, verſe 18. Would it not rejoyce your hearts, if you were ſure to live, to ſee the coming of the Lord, and to ſee his glorious appearing and retinue? If you were not to die, but to be caught up thus to meet the Lord, and to be changed immediately into an immortal, incorruptible glorious ſtate, would you be averſe to this? would it not be the greateſt joy that you could deſire? For my own part, I muſt confeſs to you, that death as death appeareth to me as an enemy, and my nature doth abhor and fear it: But the thoughts of the Coming of the Lord are moſt ſweet and joyful to me, ſo that if I were but ſure that I ſhould live to ſee it; and that the Trumpet ſhould ſound, and the dead ſhould riſe, and the Lord appear before the period of my age, it would be the joyfulleſt tydings to me in the world. O that I might ſee his Kingdome come! It is the Character of his Saints to love his appearing, 2 Tim. 4. 8, and to look for the bleſſed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jeſus Chriſt, Tit. 2. 13. The Spirit and the Bride ſay, Come: Come Lord Jeſus, Come quickly] is the voice of faith, and hope, and love, Revel. 22. 17, 20. But I find not that his ſervants are thus Characterized, by their deſires to die. It is therefore the preſence of their Lord that they deſire: But it is Death that they abhor: And therefore (though they can ſubmit to death) it is the coming of Chriſt that they Love and long for; and it is interpoſing Death that cauſeth them to draw back. Let not Chriſtians be diſcouraged by miſtakes, and think that they love not God and glory, becauſe they love not this enemy in the way: nor think that they are gracenor think that they are graceleſs or unbelieving worldlings, becauſe they are afraid of death as death.
But perhaps you will ſay, that if grace prevail not againſt the fears of death, then fear is predominant, and we are not ſincere. To which I anſwer, that you muſt diſtinguiſh between ſuch a prevailing as maintaineth our ſincerity, and ſuch a prevailing as alſo procureth our fortitude and joy. If grace prevail not to keep us upright in a holy life, renouncing the world, and crucifying the fleſh, and devoting our ſelves entirely to God, though the fear of death would draw us from it, then it is a ſign that we are not ſincere. But if grace do this much, and yet prevail not againſt all fears and unwillingneſs to die, but leave us under uncomfortable hideous thoughts of death, this proves us not to be unſound. For the ſoul may ſavingly love God, that is afraid of death: And he may truly love the End, that fears this dark and diſmal way. Yet muſt there be ſo much to prove our uprightneſs, as that in our deliberate choice, we will rather voluntarily paſs through death (either natural or violent) then loſe the happineſs beyond it: Though we love not death, yet we love God and Heaven ſo well, that we will ſubmit to it: And though we fear it and abhor it, yet not ſo much as we fear and abhor the loſs of Heaven. Let not poor Chriſtians therefore wrong themſelves, and deny the graces of the Spirit, as if they had more mind of earth then heaven, and of things temporal then of things eternal, becauſe they are afraid to die. All ſuffering is grievous, and not joyous to our nature. Paul himſelf deſired not to be uncloathed, but clothed upon with our houſe which is from Heaven, that mortality might be ſwallowed up of life, 2 Cor. 5. 2, 4. it being better to be abſent from the body, and preſent with the Lord. Even Chriſt himſelf had a will that deſired that the Cup might have paſſed from will, if it had been agreeable to his Fathers will, and the ends of his undertaken Office, Matth. 26. 41, 42. Raiſe therefore no unjuſt concluſions from theſe natural fears, nor from the imperfection of our conqueſt: but praiſe him that relieveth us, and abateth the enmity of death, and furniſheth us with his Antidotes and will deſtroy this enemy at laſt.