Two Treatises on Death and Judgment, Treatise · Section 8
SECT. VIII.
Uſe 6.
FRom the Enmity of Death we may further learn to ſtudy and magnifie the victorious grace of our Redeemer: which overcometh the enemy, and turneth our hurt into our benefit, and maketh death a door of life. Though death be the enemy that ſeemeth to conquer us, and to deſtroy and utterly undo us, yet being conquered it ſelf by Chriſt, it is uſed by him to our great advantage, and ſanctified to be a very great help to our ſalvation. The ſuffering of Chriſt himſelf was in the hour of his enemies, and the power of darkneſs, Luke 22. 53. which ſeemed to have prevailed againſt him; when yet it was but a deſtroying of Death by Death, and the purchaſing of life and ſalvation for the world. So alſo in our Death, though ſin and Satan ſeem to conquer, it is they that are conquered, and not we, who are ſupervictors through him that hath loved us, Romans 8. 37. They deſtroy themſelves when they ſeem to have deſtroyed us. As the Serpent bruiſed but the heel of Chriſt, who bruiſed his head; ſo doth he bruiſe but our heel, who in that conflict, and by the means of his own execution through the ſtrength of Chriſt, do bruiſe his head, Gen. 3. 15. And this is the upſhot of all his enmity, againſt the womans holy ſeed. Though Death was unſuitable to innocent man, and is ſtill a natural enemy to us all; yet unto ſinners it is an evil that is ſuitable and fit to deſtroy the greater evil that did cauſe it, and to prevent the everlaſting evil. The fore-knowledee of our certain Death, is a very great help to keep us humble; and diſgrace all the ſeducing pleaſures of the fleſh, and all the profits and honours of the world, and ſo to enervate all temptations. It is a ſingular help to quicken a ſtupid careleſs, ſiuner, and to awaken men to prepare for the life to come, and to excite them to ſeek firſt the Kingdom of God, and to give all diligence to make their calling and election ſure; and to conſider, ſeeing all theſe things muſt be diſſolved, what manner of perſons they ought to be, in all holy converſation and godlineſs, looking for, and haſtening to the coming of the day of God, 2 Pet. 3, 11, 12. When we drop aſleep, the remembrance of Death may quickly awake us; when we grow ſlack, it is our ſpur to put us on, to mend our pace. Who is ſo mad, as wilfully to ſin with Death in his eye? or who ſo dead, as with Death in his eye, to refuſe to live a godly life, if he have any ſpiritual light and feeling? Experience telleth us, that when health and folly cauſe us to promiſe our ſelves long life, and think that Death is a great way off, it lamentably cools our zeal, and ſtrengtheneth our temptations, and dulls our ſouls to holy operations: and the approach of Death puts life into all our apprehenſions and affections. It is a wonderful hard thing to maintain our lively apprehenſions, and ſtrong affections, and tenderneſs of conſcience, and ſelf-denyal, and eaſie contempt of earthly things, when we put far from us the day of Death. We ſee what a ſtir men make for the profits and honours of this world, and how faſt they hold their fleſhly pleaſures, while they are in health, and how contemptuouſly they ſpeak of all, and bitterly complain of the vanity and vexation, when they come to dye. And if our lives and the world be brought hereby into ſuch diſorders, when men live ſo ſhore a time on Earth, what monſters of ambition, and covetouſneſſe, and luxury would men be, if they lived as long as before the FLOOD, even to Eight Hundred, or nine hundred years of age? Doubtleſs long life was ſo great a temptation then to man, (in his corrupted ſtate) that it is no wonder if his wickedneſs was great upon the earth; and if it prepared for that great deſtruction of the univerſal deluge. Should men live now but to the age of three hundred, or four hundred years: I fear it would ſo tempt them to overvalue the world, and ſo embolden them to delay repentance, that one would be as a Wolf to another, and the weak, but be a prey to the ſtrong, and wickedneſs would overwhelm the world, deſpiſing the reins, and bearing down Religious and Civil oppoſition. But when we ſtand over the grave, and ſee our friends laid in the duſt; how mortified do we ſeem? how do we even ſhake the head at the folly of ambitious and covetous worldlings, and are aſhamed to think of fleſhly luſts! So far are men from owning their vanities, when that ſilent teacher ſtandeth by. It is Death that helps to humble. the proud, and abate the arrogancy and obſtinacy of the wicked, and make them regard the meſſengers of Chriſt, that before deſpiſed them and their meſſage. It is Death that allayeth the ebullition of deſtracting thoughts and paſſions, and helpeth to bring men to themſelves, and fixeth giddy diſcompoſed minds, and helps to ſettle the light and the unſettled; and to reſtrain the worſt. As we are beholden to the Gallows for our purſes and our lives; ſo are we to the grave and hell, for much of the order that is in the world, and our peace and freedom procured thereby. But it is a greater good that it procureth to believers.
If you ask, How is all this to be aſcribed to Chriſt? I anſwer, many wayes: 1. It is he that hath now the Keys or power of Death and Hell, even he that liveth and was dead, and that liveth for evermore, Rev. 1. 18. and therefore is to be feared by the world. 2. It is he that hath by his Blood and Covenant brought us the Hope of Everlaſting life; which is it that gives the efficacy to Death. Without this, men would be but deſperate, and think that it is better have a little pleaſure, than none at all; and ſo would give up themſelves to ſin, and deſperately gratifie their fleſh by all the wickedneſs they could deviſe. 3. And it ls Chriſt that teacheth men the right uſe of Death, by his holy Doctrine; having brought life and immortality to light by his Goſpel. 4. And it is Chriſt that ſendeth forth the holy Spirit, which only doth ſo illuminate the mind, and quicken and diſpoſe the heart, that Death may be ſavingly improved. The poyſon is our own, but it is his skill and love that hath made a Soveraign Antidote of it. And let our bodies dye, ſo our ſin may dye. If the foreſight of Death deſtroy our ſin, and further our ſanctification, and the hour of Death doth end our fears, and enter us into the ſtate of glory, though we will love Death as Death never the better for this, much leſs the ſin that cauſed it; yet muſt we admire the love of our Redeemer.
And it is not only the Peril but alſo the Terrous of Death that we are in part delivered from. Though Chriſt himſelf was in a bloody ſweat, in his Agony before his death, and cryed out on the Croſs, My God, why haſt thou forſaken me; becauſe he bore the ſins of the world: yet Death is welcome to many of his followers, that drink of his cup, and are baptized with his Baptiſm: For they taſte not of theſe dreggs which he drunk up, and they are ſtrengthned by his ſupporting grace. He that doth comfort them againſt ſin and Hell, doth alſo comfort them againſt Death. So great is the glory that he hath promiſed them, and ſo great is his comforting, confirming grace, that dreadful Death is not great enough to prevail againſt them. As it was too weak to conquer Chriſt; ſo is it too weak to conquer his Spirit in his peoples ſouls. Without Chriſt we could not live, and we durſt not die: but through him we can do and ſuffer all things, and can boldly paſs through this dark and ſhady vail of death; yea, we can deſire to depart and to be with Chriſt as beſt for us: for to Live is Chriſt, and to die is gain, Phil. 1. 21, 23. For we know that if our earthly houſe of this Tabernacle were diſſolved, we have a building of God, an houſe not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And therefore ſometimes we can earneſtly groan, deſiring to be cloathed upon with our houſe which is from heaven. And we are alwayes confident, knowing that whileſt we are at home in the body, we are abſent from the Lord: we are confident, I ſay, and willing rather to be abſent from the body and preſent with the Lord: and therefore labour, that whether preſent, or abſent, we may be accepted of him: For we walk by faith, and not by ſight: and it is God that hath wrought us for the ſelf ſame thing, who alſo hath given us the earneſt of the Spirit, 2 Cor. 5. 1, to 10. Though we long not to dye, yet we long to ſee the face of God. And though we lay down our bodies with natural unwillingneſs, yet we lay down our ſin and ſorrows with gladneſs and ſpiritual delight. And though our hearts are ready to faint, as Peter's, when he walked to Chriſt upon the waters, yet Chriſt puts forth his hand of love, and ſoon recovereth us from our fear and danger.
Melancholy and Impatience may make men weary of their lives, and ruſh upon Death with a falſe conceit that it will end their ſorrows: But this is not to conquer Death, but to be conquered by a leſſer evil: and it is not an effect of fortitude, but of an imbecillity and impotency of mind. And if a Brutus, a Cato, or a Seneca, be his own Executioner, they do but chuſe a leſſer evil, (in their conceits) even a Death which they accounted honourable, before a more ignominious Death, or a Life of ſhame, and ſcorn, and miſery. But the true believer is raiſed above the fears of Death, by the love of God, and the hopes of Glory; and Death (though ungrateful in it ſelf) is welcome to him, as the way to his felicity.
Let Tyrants and Souldiers take it for their glory, that they can take away mens lives, (that is they have the power of a Serpent, or of Ratsbane) as if it were their honour to be their Countries peſtilence; and a Ruler and a Doſe of Poyſon, were things of equal ſtrength and uſe: But it is the Glory of Chriſt to enable his Diſciples to conquer Death, and bear the fury of the moſt cruel perſecutors. The Martyrs have been more joyful in their ſufferings, than the Judges that condemned them in their Pomp and Glory. When we are preſſed above ſtrength, and deſpair of life, and have the ſentence of Death in our ſelves; we are then taught to truſt in the Living God that raiſeth the dead 2 Cor. 1. 8, 9, 10. the ſaints by faith have been tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better reſurrection: they have had tryal of cruel mockings and ſcourgings; yea moreover of bonds and impriſonment; they were ſtoned, they were ſawn aſunder, were tempted, were ſlain with the ſword, Heb. 11. 35, 36, 37. Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, 1 Cor. 15. 57. They overcome by the blood of the Lamb—and love not their lives unto the death, Rev. 12. 11. They fear not them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do, Luke 124. They truſt upon his promiſe that hath ſaid, [I will ranſome them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from Death. O Death, I will be thy plagues! O grave, I will be thy deſtruction, Hoſ. 13. 14. Precious in the ſight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints, Pſal. 116. 15. Bleſſed are the dead which dye in the Lord, from henceforth; yea ſaith the Spirit, that they may reſt from their labours, and their works do follow them, Rev. 14. 13.