Two Treatises on Death and Judgment, Treatise · Section 9 – Direction 6
SECT. IX.
Uſe 7.
MOreover from the Enmity of Death, we may be directed which way to bend our cares: and ſeeing where our difficulty moſt lyeth, we may ſee which way our moſt diligent preparations muſt be turned. Death cannot be prevented, but the malignant influence of it on our ſouls may be much abated. If you let it work without an Antidote, it will make you live like unbelieving worldlings: It will deterr your hearts from Heaven, and dull your love to God himſelf, and make your meditations of him, and of your Everlaſting Reſt, to be ſeldom, and ungrateful to you; And it will make you ſay, Its good to be here; and have ſweeter thoughts of this preſent life, than of your inheritance: It will rob you of much of your heavenly delights, and fill you with ſlaviſh fears of Death, and ſubject you unto bondage all your lives, and make you dye with agony and horrour, ſo that your lives and deaths will be diſhonourable to your holy faith, and to your Lord. If it were meerly our own ſuffering by fears and horrours, or meerly our loſs of ſpiritual delights, the matter were (great, but) not ſo great: But it is more than this. For when our joyes are overwhelmed with the fears of Death, and turned into ſorrows; our love to God will be abated, and we ſhall deny him the thanks and cheerful praiſes, which ſhould be much of the employment of our lives: and we ſhall be much diſcompoſed and unfitted for his ſervice, and ſhall much diſhonour him in the world: and ſhall ſtrengthen our temptations to the overvaluing of earthly things. Think it not therefore a ſmall, or an indifferent matter, to fortifie your ſouls againſt theſe malignant fears of death. Make this your daily care and work; your peace, your ſafety, your innocency, and uſefulneſs, and the honour of God, do much lie on it. And it is a work of ſuch exceeding difficulty, that it requireth the beſt of your skill and diligence; and when all is done, it muſt be the illuminating quickning beams of grace, and the ſhining face of the Eternal Love, that muſt dothe work; though yet your diligence is neceſſary, to attend the ſpirit, and uſe the means in ſubſervience to grace, and in expectation of theſe oeleſtiall rayes.
And above all, take heed leſt you ſhould think, that carnall mirth, or meer ſecurity, and caſting away the thoughts of Death will ſerve to overcome theſe fears; or that it is enough that you reſolve againſt them. For it is your ſafety that muſt be lookt to, as well as your preſent eaſe and peace: and fear muſt be ſo overcome, as that a greater miſery may not follow: Preſumption and ſecurity will be of very ſhort continuance. To dye without fear, and paſs into into endleſs deſperation, which fear ſhould have wakened you to prevent, is no deſirable kind of dying. And beſides reſolving againſt the terrours of Death, will not prevent them. When Death draws near, it will amaze you; in deſpight of all your reſolutions, if you are not furniſhed with a better Antidote. The more jocund you have been in carnal mirth, and the more you have preſumptuouſly ſlighted Death, it is likely your horrour will be the greater when it comes. And therefore ſee that you make a wiſe and ſafe preparation; and that you groundedly and methodically cure theſe fears, and not ſecurely caſt them away. Though I have given you, to this end, ſome Directions in other writings (in the Saints Reſt, and in the Treatiſe of Self-denyal, and that of Crucifying the world,) yet I ſhall add here theſe following helps, which faithfully obſerved and practiſed, will much promote your victory over Death, which conquereth all the ſtrength of fleſh, and glory of this world.
DIRECTION I.
IF you would overcome the danger and the fears of Death, Make ſure of your Converſion, that it is ſound; and ſee that you be abſolutely devoted unto God, without Reſerves. Should you be deceived in your foundations, your life, and hopes, and joyes, would all be deluſory things. Till ſin be mortified, and your ſouls reconciled to God in Chriſt, you are ſtill in danger of worſe than Death: and it is but the ſenſeleſneſs of your dead condition, that keepeth you from the terrours of damnation. But if you are ſure that you are quickened by renewing grace, and poſſeſſed by the ſanctifying ſpirit, and made partakers of the Divine nature, you have then the Earneſt of your inheritance, Epheſ. 1. 14. 2 Cor. 1. 22. & 5. 5. and the fire is kindled in your breaſt, that in deſpight of Death, will mount you up to God.
DIRECTION II.
TO Conquer the Enmity of Death, you muſt live by faith in Jeſus Chriſt: as men that are emptied of themſelves, and ranſomed from his hands that had the power of Death; and as men that are redeemed from the curſe, and are now made heirs of the grace of life, being made his members, who is the Lord of Life, even the ſecond Adam, who is a quickning ſpirit. The ſerious believing ſtudy of his deſign and office, (to deſtroy ſin and death, and to bring many Sons to glory) and alſo of his voluntary ſuffering, and his obedience to the death of the Croſs, may raiſe us above the fears of Death. When we live by faith as branches of this bleſſed Vine, and are righteous with his righteouſneſs, juſtified by his blood and merits, and ſanctified by his Word and Spirit, and find that we are united to him, we may then be ſure that Death cannot conquer us, and nothing can take us out of his hands: For our life being hid with Chriſt in God, we know that we ſhall live, becauſe he liveth, Col. 3. 3. Joh. 14. 19. and that when Chriſt who is our life appeareth, we ſhall alſo appear with him in glory, Col. 3. 4. And that he will change our vile bodies, and make them like to his glorious body, by his mighty power, by which he is able to ſubdue all things to himſelf, Phil. 3. 20, 21. In our own ſtrength we dare not ſtand the charge of Death, and with it the charge of the Law, and of our Conſciences▪ How dreadfully ſhould we then be foiled and nonpluſt, if we muſt be found in no other righteouſneſs, but what we have received from the firſt Adam, and have wrought by the ſtrength received from him! But being gathered under the wings of Chriſt, as the chickens under the wings of the Hen, (Mat. 23. 37.) and being found then in him, having the righteouſneſs which is through the faith of Chriſt, the righteouſneſs which is of God by faith, we may boldly anſwer to all that can be charged on us to our terrour. If we know him, and the power of his reſurrection, and the fellowſhip of his ſufferings, and are made conformable to his death, (Phil. 3. 9, 10.) if we are dead with him to the world, and riſen with him to a holy life; if we have believingly traced him in his ſufferings and conqueſt, and perceive by faith how we participate in his victories, we ſhall then be able to grapple with the hands of Death; and though we know the grave muſt be for a while the priſon of our fleſh, we can by faith foreſee the opening of our priſon-doors, and the looſing of our bonds, and the day of our laſt and full Redemption. It ſtrengtheneth us exceedingly to look unto Jeſus, the author and finiſher of our faith, who for the joy that was ſet before him, endured the Croſs, deſpiſing the ſhame, and is ſet down at the right hand of the Throne of God.] When we conſider what he endured againſt himſelf, we ſhall not be weary nor faint in our minds, Heb. 12. 2, 3.
DIRECTION III.
LIve alſo by faith on the Heavenly Glory. As one eye of faith muſt be on an humbled crucified Chriſt, ſo muſt the other be on Heaven, on a glorified Chriſt, and on the glory and everlaſting Love of God; which we ſhall there enjoy. This is it that conquereth the fears of Death, when we belive that we ſhall paſs thorow it into everlaſting life If a man for health will take the moſt ungrateful potion, (the bitterneſs being ſhort, and the benefit long;) and if he will ſuffer the Surgeon to let out his blood, and in caſe of neceſſity to cut of a member; how light ſhould we make of Death, that have the aſſured hopes of glory to encourage us! What door ſo ſtreight that we would not paſs thorow if we could, to our deareſt friend! What way ſo ſoul, that we would not travel to our beloved home! And ſhall Death ſeem intolerable to us, that letteth in our ſouls to Chriſt! Well might Paul ſay [To dye is gain,] Phil. 1. 21. when we gain deliverance from all thoſe ſins that did here beſet us, & all thoſe ſorows that ſin had bred: We gain the accompliſhment of our deſires & the end of our faith, the ſalvation of ourſouls: We gain the Crown that fadeth not away; a place before the Throne of Chriſt, in the Temple of God, in the City of God the New Jeruſalem; to eat of the hidden Manna, and of the Tree of Life which is in the midſt of the Paradiſe of God, Rev. 2. & 3. We gain the place prepared for us by Chriſt, in his Fathers houſe, Joqn 14. 1, 2. For we ſhall be with him where he is, that we may behold his glory, Joh. 17. 24. We ſhall gain the ſight of the glory of God, and the feeling of his moſt precious love, and the fulneſs of joy that is in his preſence, and the everlaſting pleaſures at his right hond, Pſal. 16. 11. And ſhall we think much to dye▪ for ſuch a gain? we will put off our cloaths, and welcome ſleep, which is the Image of death, that our bodies may have reſt, and refuſe not thus to dye every night, that we may riſe more refreſhed for our employments in the morning. And ſhall we ſtick at the uncloathing of our ſouls, in ord… to their everlaſting Reſt? Set but the eye of Faith to the Proſpective of the Promiſe, and take a ſerious frequent view of the promiſed Land: and this, if any thing, will make Death more welcome than Phyſick to the ſick, than uncloathing to a beggar, that puts on new or better cloaths. Shall a poor man chearfully ply his labour all day in hope of a little wages at night; and ſhall not a believer chearfully yield to Death, in hope of everlaſting glory? ſo far as Heaven is ſoundly believed, and our converſations, and hearts are there, the fears of Death will be aſſwaged; and nothing elſe will well aſſwage them.
DIRECTION. IV.
MOreover, if you will conquer the enmity of Death, do all that you can to encreaſe and exerciſe the love of God in you. For love will ſo encline you to the bleſſed object of it, that Death will not be able to keep down the flame. Were God ſet as a ſeal upon our hearts, we ſhould find that Love is as ſtrong as Death, and the coals thereof are coals of fire, and the flame is vehement: many waters cannot quench it, nor can the floods drown it, Cant. 8. 6, 7. If carnal Love have made the amorous to chuſe Death that they might paſſionately expreſs it, eſpecially when they have heard if the death of their beloved; and if natural fortitude and love to their Country, have made many valiant men, though Heathens, to contemn Death, and readily lay down lives, and if the love of fame and vain glory in a ſurviving name, have cauſed many to dye through pride: how much more will the powerful love of God; put on the ſoul to leave this fleſh, and paſs through Death, that we may ſee his face, and fully enjoy the object of our love? So much as you love God, ſo much will you be above the terrours of the grave, and paſt through Death for the enjoyment of your beloved. Perfect Love caſteth out fear; and he tqat feareth is not made perfect in love: in Death and Judgement, we ſhall have boldneſs, if our love be perfect, 1 John 4. 17, 18. This maketh the Martyrs chearfully lay down their lives for Chriſt; and love is glad of ſo precious an opportunity for its exerciſe and manifeſtation. Love is a reſtleſs working thing, that will give you no reſt, till your deſires are attained, and you be with God. Nothing is ſo valiant as Love! It rejoyceth when it meeteth with difficulties, which it may encounter for the ſake of our beloved! It contemneth dangers: It glorieth in ſufferings: Though it be humble, and layeth by all thoughts of merit, yet it rejoyceth in ſufferings; for Chriſt, and glorieth in the Croſs, and in the participation of his ſufferings, and in the honourable wounds and fears which we receive for him that died for us.
DIRECTION V.
TO overcome the terrours and enmity of Death, it is neceſſary that we keep the Conſcience clear from the guilt of wilful ſin, and of impenitency. If it may be, ſee that you wound it not; if you have▪ wounded it, preſently ſeek a cure: and live not in a wounded ſtate. The face of Death will waken conſcience, and cauſe it to ſpeak much lowder than it did in health and in proſperity: And then ſin will ſeem another thing, and wrath more terrible than it did in your ſecurity. Conſcience will do much to make your burden light or heavy. If Conſcience groundedly ſpeak peace, and all be ſound and well at home, Death will be leſs terrible, the heart being fortified againſt its enmity. But to have a pained body, and a pained ſoul; a dying body, and a ſcorched Conſcience that is afraid of everlaſting Death; this is a terrible caſe indeed. Speedily therefore get rid of ſin, and get your Conſciences throughly cleanſed, by ſound repentance and the blood of Chriſt. For ſo much ſin as you bring to your death-bed, ſo much bitterneſs will there be in Death. Away then with that ſin that Conſcience tells you of, and touch the forbidden fruit no more, and kindle not the ſparks of Hell in your ſouls, to make the ſting of Death more venemous. As it will quiet a believing ſoul through Chriſt, when he can ſay with Hezekiah, Iſa. 38. 3. Remember now, O Lord, I beſeech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy ſight] and it will be our rejoycing if we have the teſtimony of our Conſciences, that in ſimplicity and godly ſincerity we have had our converſation in the world, 2 Cor. 1. 12. So will it be moſt terrible to dye in the fears of unpardoned ſin, and to have Conſcience ſcourging us with the remembrance of our folly, when God is afflicting us, and we have need of a well-compoſed mind, to bear the troubles of our fleſh. A little from without is grievous, when any thing is amiſs within: Get home therefore to Chriſt without delay: and ceaſe not till you have peace in him, that Death may find your Conſciences whole.
DIRECTION VI.
REdeeming time, is another means to prevent the hurtful fears of Death. When we foreknow that it will ſhortly end our time, let us make the beſt of time while we have it. And then when we find that our work is done, and that we did not loyter nor loſe the time that God vouchſafed us, the end of it will be leſs grievous to us. A man that ſtudieth his duty, and ſpareth for no coſt or pains, and is as loath to loſe an hours, time as a covetous man is to loſe an hundred pound, will look back on his life, and look before him to his Death, with greater peace, and leſs perplexity, than another man. But the thoughts of Death muſt needs be terrible, to a man that hath trifled away his life, and been an unthrift of his time. To think when you muſt dye, that now you are at your laſt day or hour; and withall, to think how many hours you vainly loſt, and that you knew not the worth of time, till it was gone, will make Death more bitter than now you can imagine. What elſe is Deaah but the ending of our Time? and what can be more neceſſary to a comfortable end, then faithfully to uſe it while we have it?
DIRECTION VII.
ANother help againſt the Enmity of Death is the Crucifying of the fleſh, with its affections and luſts; and the conqueſt of the world by the life of faith, and crucifying it by the Croſs of Chriſt; and dying daily by the patient ſuffering of the Croſs our ſelves. When we are looſe from all things under the Sun, and there is nothing that entangleth our affections on earth, a great part of the difficulty is then removed. But Death will tear the heart that is glued to any thing in this world. Poſſeſs therefore as if you poſſeſſed not, and rejoyce as if you rejoyced not, and uſe the world as not abuſingit: for the faſhion of this world doth paſs away, 1 Cor. 7. 29, 30, 31. It is much for the ſake of our fleſh that muſt periſh, that Death doth ſeem ſo bitter to us: If therefore we can throughly ſubdue the fleſh, and live above its pleaſure and deſires, we ſhall the more eaſily bear its diſſolution. Shut up your ſenſes then a little more, and let your hearts grow ſtranger to this world; and if you have known any perſons, relations, accomodations after the fleſh, from henceforth know them ſo no more. How terrible is Death to an earthly-minded man, that had neglected his ſoul for a treaſure here, which muſt then be diſſipated in a moment? How eaſie is Death to a heavenlymind, that is throughly weaned from this world, and taketh it but for his pilgrimage or paſſage unto life, and it hath made it the buſineſs of his dayes, to lay up for himſelf a treaſure in Heaven: He that hath unfeignedly made Heaven his end in the courſe of his life, will moſt readily paſs to it on the hardeſt terms: For every man is willing to attain his end.
DIRECTION VI.
IT will much help us againſt the enmity of Death, to be duly conformed to the Image of God, in the hatred of ſin, and love of holineſs; and in ſpecial in the point of Juſtice. When we hate ſin throughly, and find it ſo incorporated into our fleſh, that they muſt live and dye together, it will make Death the more eaſie to us, becauſe it will be the dath of ſin; even of that ſin which we moſt hate, and that God hateth, and that hath coſt us ſo dear as it hath done. When we are in love with holineſs, and know that we ſhall never be perfect in it, till after Death; it will make Death the more welcome, as the paſſage to our deſired life. When the Juſtice, even the caſtigatory and vindictive Juſtice of God, is more amiable in our eyes, and we are not blinded by ſelf-love, to judge of God and of his wayes, according to the intereſt of our fleſh; we ſhall then conſent to his diſſolving ſtroke, and that ſee the bitterneſs of Death proceedeth from that which is good in God, though from that which is evil in our ſelves. Doubtleſs, as Juſtice is one of the bleſſed Attributes of God, ſo ſhould it be amiable to man, there being nothing in God but what is lovely. It is the prevalency of ſelf-love, that makes men ſo inſenſible of the excellency of Divine Juſtice, while they ſpeak ſo reſpectfully of his mercy. So far as men are carnal and ſelfiſh they cannot love that by which they ſmart, or of which they are in danger. But the ſoul that is got above it ſelf, and is united unto God in Chriſt, and hath that Image of God, which containeth the impreſs and effect of all his Attributes, hath ſuch an habit of impartial juſtice in himſelf, and ſuch a hatred of ſin, and ſuch a deſire that the honour of God ſhould be vindicated and maintained, and ſuch an approbation of the Juſtice of God, that he can the more eaſily conſent or ſubmit to the diſſolving ſtroke of Death: He hateth his own ſin, and loatheth himſelf for all his abominations, and is poſſeſſed with that Juſtice that provoketh him to ſelf revenge in an ordinate ſort, and therefore doth love and honour that Juſtice that inflicteth on him the penalty of Death; (Eſpecially ſince Mercy hath made it a uſeful Caſtigation.) As ſome penitent malefactors have been ſo ſenſible of their crimes, that they have not deprecated Death, but conſented to it as a needful work of Juſtice, (as its written of the penitent Murderer lately hanged at London.) So, Holineſs doth contain ſuch a hatred of our own ſins, and ſuch impartial Juſtice on Gods behalf; that it will cauſe us to ſubſcribe to the righteouſneſs of his ſentence, and the more quietly to yield to the ſtroke of Death.