The Great Concern, Chapter 1
CHAP. 1. Which contains an Introduction, and an Explication of the Words of the Text, with the General truth of them, and therein the foundation of our intended Diſcourſe.
TO walk with God here on earth, while we live; and to be ready to live with God for ever in Heaven, when we come to die▪ is the Great Work we have to do, the Great Concern we have to mind, in our preſent Pilgrimage. To grow great and high in the World, to build our Names and Families, to live a life of ſenſual pleaſures and delights, ſpending our dayes in mirth; theſe are low, mean, poor things; things infinitely beneath the dignity of a ſoul, and altogether unworthy of the leaſt of its care and ſolicitude: but to know God, to love God, to obey God, to delight in God, to contemplate the glorious excellencies and perfections of God, to live upon God, and to live to God; upon him as our chief good and happineſs, and to him as our laſt end; and withall to be found ready at laſt to live with him for ever, to enter upon the beatifical Viſion, and to paſs into that life of love and holineſs; which the Saints and Angels live above, being made perfect in the Viſion and Fruition of the God of Glory; this is truly noble, this is worthy of the care and ſolicitude of Souls: to promote theſe things, and more eſpecially the latter, is my deſign in fixing my Meditations on this Scripture, which I am the rather induced to do, becauſe I am apprehenſive, that the time of my going hence, when I ſhal be ſeen no more, is drawing very nigh. The words are, a holy and pathetical wiſh and deſire, breathed out into the boſom of God by the man after his own heart: and that when under ſore and heavy afflictions: under grievous ſickneſs, ſay ſome: under great ſtraits and diſtreſſes, by reaſon of Abſolon's rebellion and conſpiracy againſt him, ſay others. In this wiſh or deſire of his, you may note three things.
1. What that is which he wiſheth for, or deſires of God; and that is ſparing mercy, O ſpare me.
2. The end of this wiſh or deſire of his, and that is the recovery of ſtrength: O ſpare me that I may recover ſtrength.
3. The ground or motive which induced him to make this deſire for this end, and that was the near approach of his death: in theſe words, Before I go hence, and be no more ſeen. I will briefly paraphraſe the words for the opening of them, and then give you the ſum of them, as alſo my intendment from them, in one general poſition.
O ſpare me, that is, ceaſe to ſmite and afflict me, give me a little relaxation,Ceſſa pereutere & affligere, &c. Mol. Leniter mecum age, Mar. Abſtule aliquantulum manus tuas à flagellando, Menoch. a breathing time: ſo one expounds it: Deal gently and mildly with me; ſayes another. Withdraw thy hand a little from ſcourging me, and mitigate the violence of my affliction; ſay others. That I may recover ſtrength: that I may recruit my ſelf a little, ſaith one.Ʋt reſpirem ante mortem & traquillus animam meam in manum tuam doponam. Mol. That I may have a breathing time before my death, and being well compoſed, may lay down my Spirit, and commit it into thine hand, ſay others. That I may grow ſtrong in grace and holineſs; ſay others: That I may finiſh my courſe, and fight a good fight, obtaining the victory through a happy death, ſay others. The ſum is, that I may ſet things right in my ſoul, and get into a more ready poſture for my death and diſſolution, which ſeems to be near at hand. Before I go hence, and be no more that is,Antequam morio…, in hanc vitam na…quam reverſurus Jun before I die, never more to return into this life, before I quit this World, and bid adieu to this mortal life, to be no more in the Land of the Living, to be no more in this World, to do any thing for God or my Soul: for (as one well obſerves) David doth not here ſuppoſe Death to be the utter end, or annihilation of man, the putting of man out of being: but his meaning is, if God did ſtill go on to afflict him, as he had done, he muſt ſuddenly die, ſuddenly go off the Stage of this World, and go down to the Bars of Death, to the Gates of the Grave: where, as to any thing that is to be done for God, or a man's Soul, it is, as if he were out of being; and where he will be kept for ever from returning any more to this life, or any opportunity of ever doing any thing for another World, It is a phraſe like to, and of the ſame importance with that, Job 16.22. where Job ſpeaks of himſelf: When a few years are come; then ſhall I go the way, whence I ſhall not return: Not return, that is, not any more to this life; not return to do any thing for GOD or my Soul: The ſum of the whole ſeems to be thus much; the good man's afflictions were ſo preſſing and heavy upon him; that they did even bow him down to the Grave; and he really looked upon himſelf, as a dying man, as one going down to the duſt of the Death: where he knew full well, nothing was to be done for another life, and from whence there was no return to this life to be expected any more; and therefore he begs a breathing time, a little ſpace, wherein to recover himſelf out of all preſent diſtempers and diſcompoſures of heart, and to ſet all things right in the matters of his ſoul; thereby fitting and preparing himſelf the better for his departure out of this World: he begs a time of reſpite, wherein to prepare himſelf, and make ready for a dying hour: this is the ſum of what he drives at, and pleads with God for: accordingly the Obſervation, and therein the ſum of my intendment ſhall be this.
Doct. That 'tis a very deſirable thing and a buſineſs of the higheſt moment and importance to the Children of Men, to have all things ſet right▪ well ordered, and compoſed in the matters of their ſouls, before they leave this World; to get all the ſpiritual concerns of their Souls into the beſt poſture they can, before a dying hour comes.
David, An holy man, a man in covenant with God, yea a man after God's own heart, doth yet (you ſee) pray for ſparing mercy, for a breathing-time, a time of reſpite, here in this World before he goeth off the Stage: and why ſo? That he might recover ſtrength, that he might ſet things right in the matters of his Soul; that he might make himſelf more ready, and get his ſpiritual concerns into a better poſture, for a dying hour; and this he looked at, and made out after, as that which was moſt deſirable, and of the higheſt importance to him, as indeed 'tis to all. You have a Scripture not unlike to this, Job 10.20, 21. Are not my dayes few? ceaſe then, and let me alone; that I may take comfort a little; before I go, whence I ſhall not return, even to the Land of Darkneſs, and of the ſhadow of Death: That I may take comfort a little; that I may recover a little, that I may have a breathing time, that I may recover my ſelf, and gather up my Spirits; ſo I find the phraſe expounded. He ſeems to deſire a breathing time; the better to compoſe himſelf, and the matters of his Soul, for a dying hour. And indeed 'tis the concern of us all, to ſet all things right in our ſouls, and to get into the readieſt poſture, that poſſibly we can, againſt a dying hour comes. I ſhall firſt briefly evince this truth, and then make ſome practical improvement of it.