Funeral Sermon for Mary Doolittle, Sermon · Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. How Few Christians live in the Exerciſe of ſuch Deſires after the Bleſſed Change. What may be the Reaſon. That ſome fear of Death, and particularly of a painful Death, may conſiſt with Ʋprightneſs. That elder Chriſtians, and the Sickly and Infirm, ſhould endeavour to quicken ſuch a Deſire of Deliverance by Death. Reproof and Exhortation in reference hereto.
SECT. I.
SIxthly. Let us be Aſhamed that we find in our ſelves no more of this holy frame. That we ſo over-love this Earthly Houſe, and are afraid of Death: That our Deſires are ſo faint toward this bleſſed Change. How ſhameful is our backwardneſs and unwillingneſs to depart, and be with Chriſt? And how faulty are the Cauſes of it! which, in *See Mourner's Companion, Diſcourſe 3d. The Saints Deſire to be with Chriſt.another Diſcourſe I have open'd. How is it that ſo few can ſay with the Apoſtle, I deſire to be diſſolved, and to be with Chriſt, which is far better.
Have we not Experienced enough of the Vanity and Vexation of this World, to make us willing of a better Abode? Have we not ſinned and ſuffered enough in this Body, to deſire to be uncloathed? at leaſt to wait patiently the Pleaſure of God for our Removal? And ſo glorious is the Change, which Chriſtians expect, that one would think there ſhould rather be need of Patience, to make a Believer wait till then. But whatever the exerciſe of this Patience, under preſent Burdens may be, we need not doubt but one hours Enjoyment, will make amends for all our Waiting and Preparing.
It cannot be long with the Youngeſt of us. Let us not put it at a great Diſtance, for that will quench the Coal of Heavenly Deſire, if we look upon Heaven as Twenty or Thirty years off. We know not how ſoon God may call us; But have great Reaſon to lament the ſtrangeneſs of our Thoughts to the Heavenly State, and the faintneſs of our Deſires, when the Promiſed Felicity is ſo attractive! Do we think we ſhall live ever the longer for being unwilling to Dye? Can it enter into our Thoughts, that our exceſſive Love of the Body will procure our Continuance in it?
Is it poſſible we ſhould imagine, that ſincerity of Love to Chriſt is conſiſtent with our Backwardneſs to go to him, and live with him? Why then do we not aſpire more earneſtly after this glorious Change? How is it that we groan under the Burdens of this Earthly Tabernacle, and yet are loth to be delivered?
Will a Sick Man be afraid of his Recovery? Or, a Priſoner tremble at the News of a Goal-delivery? No more ſhould a real Chriſtian be afraid of Death, or unwilling of it: For, conſidering the Death, and Reſurrection, and Aſcenſion, and Promiſe of Chriſt; it is to a Believer a quick Paſſage from Sickneſs to eternal Health, from Toil and Labour, Captivity and Sorrow, to everlaſting Reſt, and Liberty, and Joy.
I think, (ſays *Mr. Baxter of Self-denial, p. 202.one,) God has purpoſely cloathed your Soul with ſo poor a Dreſs, that you ſhould be the leſs unwilling to be uncloathed; and might learn to ſet more by your Souls, than by your Bodies, and make more careful Proviſion for them. It ſeems he has purpoſely lodged you in ſo poor a Cottage, that you ſhould not be at too much Care for it, nor be too loth to leave it. You have its daily Neceſſities, Infirmities and Pains, and ſomewhat of its Filth and Loathſomneſs, to tell you of its Meanneſs: And why ſhould you be ſo unwilling that ſo frail a Body ſhould be turned to Duſt? Duſt it is, and to Duſt it is Sentenced. When the Soul has left it but a Week, Men can ſcarce indure to ſee it, or ſmell it; And ſhould the breaking of ſuch an Earthen Veſſel be ſo unpleaſant a thing to you? And, for its Ʋſefulneſs, though, ſo far as it is obedient, it was ſerviceable to your Souls and to God; Yet was it ſo refractory, ill-diſpoſed, and diſobedient, that it proved no better than your Enemy. Many a Temptation it hath entertained and cheriſhed, and many a Sin hath it drawn you to commit. Your Senſes have let in a World of Vanity, your Wandering Eyes have called in Covetouſneſs, and Pride, and Luſt. Your Greedy Apperites have been ſo eager on the Bait, that they have too often born down your Faith and Reaſon, and drawn you to Exceſs in Meats or Drinks, for Matter or Manner, for Quality, or Quantity, or both. Many a Groan theſe Sins have coſt you, and a ſad uncomfortable Life you have had by reaſon of them, in compariſon of what you might have had, and this Fleſh has been the Mother, or the Nurſe of all. You were engaged, by your Baptiſmal Covenant, to Fight againſt it, when you entered into the Church; and, if you are Christians, this Combate has been your daily Work, and much of the Buſineſs of your Lives; And yet are you loth to have the Victory, and ſee your Enemy under your feet? Have you fought your ſelves into Friendſhip with it, that you are ſo tender of it? Do you not know, that when you are the greateſt Friends to the Body, it will be the moſt dangerous Enemy to you? Do not think that it is only Sin, and not the Body, that is the Fleſh, which the Scripture calls your Enemy: For it is the Body, as inclining to Creatures, from which the ſinful Soul cannot reſtrain it: It is the Body, as having an inordinate ſenſitive Appetite, and Imagination, and ſo diſtempered, as that it rebels againſt the Spirit, and caſteth off the Rule of Reaſon, and would not be curbed of its Deſires, but have the Rule of all its ſelf. Was it not the very Fleſh it ſelf that Paul ſays he fought againſt, and kept under, and brought into Subjection, leſt he ſhould be a Caſtaway? 1 Cor. 9.26. Why ſhould Sin be called Fleſh and Body, but that it is the Body, or Fleſh, that is the principal ſeat of thoſe ſins, that are ſo called? &c.
How earneſtly ſhould we beg of God, that Faith and Hope in Vigorous Exerciſe, that may kindle our Deſires, and Love towards the Heavenly State, and make us long to behold the Lord in Glory? when we ſhall put off this Body, and our Souls be filled with Heavenly Light and Love. Certainly, if we do not now deſire it, we ſhall never enjoy it: For, we can never be happy by full ſatisfaction, in that which we do not know enough of, to make us deſire: But the little Knowledge and Love of God, which a real Chriſtian now hath, muſt needs make him Importunate in his Requeſts for more, and will make him value his Hopes of a better State, beyond all the Pleaſures of Sin, and all the Poſſeſſions of this World.
O How Paſſionately have ſome excellent Perſons lamented the weakneſs of their Deſires and Love, and cryed out for more of Heavenly Life and Light, and Love to God! O *Mr. Baxter's Dying Thoughts, p. 184. 212.where is the longing, the rejoycing, the triumphing Faith? VVhere is the pleaſant familiarity above, that ſhould make a Thought of Chriſt and Heaven to be ſweeter to me, than the Thought of Friends, and Health, or all the Pleaſure, and Proſperity in the World? Do thoſe that dwell in God, and God in them, and have their Heart and Converſation in Heaven, attain to no more clear and ſatisfying Preception of that bleſſed State, than I have yet attained? Is there no more Acquaintance above to be here expected? No livelier ſenſe of future Joys? No ſweeter Fore taſtes? No fuller ſilencing of Doubts and Fears? Alas! How many Chriſtians are leſs afraid to go to a Priſon, than to their God; and had rather be Paniſhed to a Land of Strangers, than ſent to Heaven? O Lord, muſt I, that am called thy Child, and an Heir of Heaven, and a Co heir with Chriſt, have no more Acquaintance with my Glorified Lord, and no more Love to thee, who art my Portion, before I go hence and come to thee? — Muſt I go hence, ſo like a Stranger, to my home? O what do I beg for ſo frequently, and ſo earneſtly, for the ſake of my Redeemer, as the Spirit of Life and Conſolation, that may ſhew me the pleaſed face of God, and unite all my Affections to my glorified Head, and draw up this dark, and drowſie Soul, to love and long to be with thee?
O God forbid, that this ſinful Fleſh ſhould be more powerful to draw me downward, than Faith, and Hope, and Love, to carry my Deſires up to God. O thou that freely gaveſt me thy Grace, maintain it to the laſt againſt its Enemies, and make it finally Victorious: It came from thee, it hath been preſerved by thee, it is on thy ſide, and wholly for thee; O let it not now fail, and be conquer'd by blind and baſe Carnality, or by the Temptations of a Helliſh conquered Enemy! — It is thine Image which thou loveſt, it is a Divine Nature, and Heavenly Beam; VVhat will a Soul be without it, but a Dungeon of Darkneſs, a Devil for Malignity, and dead to Holineſs and Heaneſs? — O rather deny me the Light of the Sun, than the Light of thy Countenance: Leſs miſerable had I been without Light or Being, than without thy Grace.— O forſake not a Sinner in his extremity, who conſents to thy Covenant, and would not forſake thee. My God, I have often ſinned againſt thee, but yet thou knoweſt, I would fain be thine. I have not ſerved thee with that Reſolution, Fidelity and Delight, as ſuch a Maſter ſhould have been ſerved; But yet I would not forſake thy Service, nor change my Maſter, or my Work. I can ſay with thy Servant Paul, Act. 27.23. That thou art the God whoſe I am, and whom I ſerve. And O that I could ſerve thee better! For to ſerve thee, is but to receive thy Grace, and uſe it for my own, and others good; and ſo to glorifie thee, and pleaſe thy Will, which being Love it ſelf, it pleaſed beſt, when we receive it, and do moſt good.— Nothing in this World is more my Grief, than that I love thee no more: Forſake not then a Sinner, that would not forſake thee, that looks towards thee, that feels it, as his trouble, to be ſo dark and ſtrange unto thee; that groaneth, and gaſpeth after thee, feeling, to his greateſt ſorrow, that while he is preſent in the Body, he is abſent from the Lord. My Lord, I have nothing to do in this World, but to ſeek and ſerve thee. — O pardon all my Carnal Thoughts, and all my Unthankful Neglects, of thy precious Grace and Love; and let the fuller Communications of thy forfeited Grace, now tell me by experience; that thou doſt forgive me.— When I have ſaid, VVill the Lord caſt off for ever? And will he be favourable no more? My Conſcience has replyed, That this is mine Infirmity I never wanted Comfort, becauſe thou ever wantedſt Mercy; but becauſe I wanted Faith, and Fitneſs to receive it, and perceive it; But haſt thou not Mercy alſo to give me, even that Fitneſs, and that Faith? My God, all is of thee, and through thee, and all is to thee: and when I have the Felicity, the Glory of all for ever will be thine; If I can live and dye in truſting in thee, ſurely I ſhall not be confounded.
*See a more full Example of the Acting of Holy Deſires towards the Bleſſed Change, in the Cloſe of his Saints Everlasting Reſt.Theſe be ſome of the Dying Thoughts of that Excellent Perſon.
SECT. II.
And yet, my Friends, miſtake me not. I ſay not that all are Graceleſs, that are afraid of Death. For Nature deſires Life, even under Sufferings that are but tolerable, rather than dye: And this is from meer natural, neceſſary Inclination, which Free-will hath not full Power againſt. Death, as the Diſſolution of our frame, as the Separation of Soul and Body, cannot, for it ſelf, be loved: The putrifying of this Body in the Grave, the greatneſs of the Change of Death, the darkneſs of our Minds, and the weakneſs of our Grace, the remaining Senſe of Sin, with the dreadful Majeſty of that God before whom we muſt appear, joined with our Natural Averſeneſs to Dye, may make us ſhrink and tremble; But the Faith of the Inviſible VVorld, the Love of God and Chriſt, and a deſire to enjoy him, and pleaſe him, and be with him, ſhould do much to overcome theſe Fears, and make us willing.
Though ſome remaining Fear be conſiſtent with Ʋprightneſs, yet remember, that not to deſire and long for this Bleſſed State, though mix'd with a Fear of intervening Death, is highly criminal and faulty: For the Love of God and Chriſt, and earneſt Deſires to be like him, and to be with him, ſeems to be the better half of all Religion, 2 Tim. 4.8. 2 Tit. 13. 2 Pet. 3.12. Not to deſire this Bleſſed Change, is directly a ſin againſt the Goſpel, whereby we are *2 Theſ. 2 12 1 Pet. 1.12.called to the obtaining of the Glory of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt. VVithout ſuch Deſires, we comply not with the Deſign and VVill of God, who hath called us to his eternal Glory by Chriſt Jeſus: For how can his Call be anſwered, without an Inclination of Heart to ſuch a State, and a Deſire after it?
For a real Member of Chriſt, and Heir of Heaven, to be only Content to ſee the Lord, to be Content to be for ever in his Bleſſed Preſence, and perfectly holy, and freed from Sin, is a very hard and harſh expreſſion. Men are covetous, eager and ambitious after earthly good; And ſhall a Chriſtian's Deſire be leſs earneſt after the Heavenly Glory?
I grant, ſome remaining Fear of Death may conſiſt with Integrity; when it is not God and Heaven we are averſe to, but Death that ſtands in the way; or when it is becauſe of our Doubts of God's Acceptance of us. For I queſtion not but moſt upright Chriſtians would rather dye than live, might they but hope to be with Chriſt, and enjoy the Divine Preſence. As others would be glad of a Removal, might it be without Dying, becauſe they fear the Pains and Terrors of a dying Hour. Might they not be uncloathed, but cloathed upon by an immediate Tranſlation, they care not how ſoon it were. For there be many ſuch, who deſire the Second Coming of Chriſt unfeignedly, and the Bleſſed Conſequences of it, to whom all the parts of the Heavenly State and Life are ſweet and grateful, who live and walk in their Integrity before God, though their Grace prevail not againſt this Fear of death.
VVhereas you ought to conſider, that the Throes and Pangs of Travelling VVomen, in ordinary caſes, may be ſuppoſed to equal, or exceed the Pains of Death. (And who knows the divine Supports that may make our Diſſolution eaſie?) yet many a Mother has Courage and Patience, by the Hopes of Life, and of a living Child, when all theſe Sorrows ſhall be ſoon forgotten.
And ſhall the Knowledge and Expectation of Heaven, and Eternal Life be leſs powerful, to influence thy Soul againſt the Fear of Death? How many have been inabled to conquer the Fear of Death, and been diſpleaſed with their Friends, that talked of their Recovery as hopeful, and have told them, that ſuch Diſcourſe was not pleaſing, they had rather dye, and be with Chriſt.
Is it thy Uſefullneſs to Relations and Friends, or to the Intereſt of Chriſt in this World, that makes thee unwilling? Think a little, Are you fitter to Judge and determine of that than he? Can he not do his own Work without thee? Conſider therefore, Chriſtians, you that know you cannot have an Houſe above without pulling down this earthly Tabernacle; you that know you cannot get to Heaven but by dying, and pretend to be related to the heavenly Country: Are you deſirous of nothing better than the Fruits of this Earth? What a contempt of God and Chriſt, What a gratification of the Devil, what a contradiction to your belief and hope, does this Backwardneſs carry with it? yea a contradiction to the very End and Deſign of all Religion; which is a dead, and vain, infignificant, and trifling thing, if it refer not to a bleſſed Eternity beyond the Grave, and if it bring us not to deſire, and chuſe it as our End.
You eſpecially who are Old Diſciples, and have been long in the School of Chriſt, ſhould conſider this. You know you muſt ere long lay down this Tabernacle and be uncloathed, you profeſs to hope ſhortly to enter into the World of Joy; What a ſhame is it, that your Sight is no clearer, your Perception no quicker, your Apprehenſions no higher, your Deſires no ſtronger, as to this expected Bleſſedneſs after Death! though you are ſenſible you draw nearer to the things believed, and hoped for, and that within a little while you expect the Promiſes will have a full Performance as to you; that you are almoſt there, where Faith ſhall paſs into Sight and Love; You are almoſt ready to take your place in Glory, where Millions are gone before you; O how is it, that you are no more Joyfully affected with theſe Hopes: How is it, that your Thoughts are ſo doubtful, your Deſires ſo ſluggiſh? That this Body, and this preſent World, is ſo unduely loved? even though the pleaſure of ſenſible things be almoſt gone; though bodily Infirmities and Pains, make this preſent Dwelling uneaſie: For they require your Patience, and call aloud to you to haſten your work, to ſet looſe, and prepare to come away. God hath made you weary of this World, and makes you often cry for divine Aſſiſtance and Grace: He hath given you to know by experience, that He alone muſt be the Portion of your Souls, his Favour alone your Life, and Heaven or nothing your happineſs: You find that the Hope of Heaven is your only Comfort: For ſuch as you, to be unwilling to dye, who, by Age and Weakneſs, have one ſoot in Heaven already, is moſt inexcuſable.
You have found that your Souls are uſually worſt, when your Bodys have been beſt, and when the Body is in the beſt State, it is uſually worſt with the Soul: ſhould it not therefore be your care, when the outward Man is decaying, that the inward Man ſhould be aſpiring after God, and grow better? Has this vile and corruptible Fleſh been ſo much your Friend, that you are loth to be uncloathed? What Entertainment have you had in this World, that you ſhould be ſo loth to leave it? Have your Fears, and Cares, and Sorrows, by reaſon of the Body, been ſo delightful, that you would not that they ſhould have an end, that you do not groan to be cloathed upon with an Houſe from Heaven? Methinks, as every Pain and Ache, and Trouble, and Sickneſs, ſhould mind the wicked of their eternal Sorrows; ſo the bodily Infirmities, Decays, and Sickneſs of good Men, ſhould raiſe their Deſire to be with Chriſt.
O What a ſhame is it, as to All of us, that we no more deſire and groan to be delivered, when there is ſo glorious and bleſſed a State in view before us? That the Thoughts of theſe things are ſo cold and ſeldom! Our heavenly Affections ſo low and weak! What can be the reaſon? but that we look upon the heavenly Glory as at the diſtance of many Years to come, if at all we believe and expect it? But this is ſhameful, to thoſe that profeſs by Death to expect a freedom from all the incumberances of Fleſh and Blood, of bodily Paſſions and Appetites, and of all the preſent Temptations of ſenſuality: who expect that our Time of Sinning and Suffering ſhall ſhortly end together, when we ſhall be releaſed from all the ſad Accidents of Mortality, and this vile and corruptible Body be raiſed in Glory. Shameful indeed for us, who believe a bleſſed State ſo near, when there ſhall be nothing from within, nor from without, ever more to intercept, hinder, or abate our compleat Felicity: who look for the Light of Gods eternal Favour to ſhine upon us, and the plentiful pleaſant Streams of eternal Goodneſs, flowing from God and the Lamb, to make our delight, and Joy perfect and everlaſting. And yet we do not, as we ought, deſire and long to be Partakers of this bleſſed State.