A New Years Gift, Section 14
SECT. XIV.
How a Good Man may improve and encourage himſelf, under the Suppoſition of dying this Year, even in the moſt uneaſy, and undeſirable Circumſtances.
I May dye this Year; then all my Cares and Fears, if I am Rich, all my Sorrow and Calamities (as to this World,) if I am Poor, will die too. I may dye this Year; then I ſhall have no more Enemies, no more Sickneſs, and which is infinitely better, I ſhall Sin no more. I muſt ſhortly die, it may be, this Year; but there is no other way to come to a bleſſed Life, but by dying; and my Saviour hath died for me, and he that believes in him, ſhall never ſee Death. He lives who was once dead, yea, he lives for evermore; and hath promiſed, that I ſhall be with him to behold his Glory. He hath the Keys of Death and Hell: He is the Reſurrection and the Life; he hath removed the ſting of Death; and I need not fear a conquered Enemy. If I dye this year, I muſt quit the Company of all my deareſt Friends on Earth, but I ſhall go to better Company above; and if they are the Friends of Chriſt, we ſhall ſhortly meet again, and love one another in a better manner than now, and never more be parted.
I may dye this Year; my Friends and Enemies may dye too. Let me enjoy the one as mortal dying Perſons, that muſt e're long leave me, or I them; and not fear the other, who may ſo ſoon Periſh, and quickly be uncapable of doing me or others Miſchief.
I may dye this Year; Let me not then think much of Temporal Sufferings, of any Evils which may ſo ſoon be over. Oh! what would condemned Sinners in the other World give, to be able to believe, and ſay ſo of their Sufferings?
I may dye this Year; and can I wonder that I am ſometimes Sick and in Pain, and that my Body is out of order? Am I not Mortal, and dwell in an houſe of Clay, which muſt ſhortly moulder into Duſt; and is it any thing ſtrange, that ſuch a craſy Building doth ſometime ſhake, and need repair, and threaten a diſſolution? 'Tis a greater wonder, I am any time well: That ſuch a Body, compounded of ſo many little parts; and ſo eaſily diſordered by innumerable accidents, ſhould be in Health; is hardly leſs to be admired, than that an Inſtrument of a thouſand ſtrings ſhould be kept in Tune.
I thank thee, O heavenly Father, for the many advantages of Sickneſs, to weaken the power of Sin, to humble my Pride, and cure my Worldlineſs and Senſuality, to reduce me from wandering, to empty me of Self-conceit, to awaken the conſideration of Death and Judgment, to impreſs the Thoughts of the vanity of this World, and the Eternity of the next; to aſſiſt me to mortifie the Fleſh, to rule my Paſſions, to exerciſe Patience, and quicken me in Prayer, and try my Faith and Love, and excite my diligence to redeem time, and convince me of the Worth and Uncertainty of it; and thereby promote my Preparations for my final change. The Great Apoſtle by dying daily, had as many victories over this World, as he lived Days. Oh! that I might ſo far walk by the ſame Rule, as every day to think of providing for my laſt; and in Health to do that, which in Sickneſs I ſhall wiſh I had done!
I may dye this Year; It may be by ſome tedious painful Sickneſs, ſome troubleſome and loathſome Diſeaſe. But God hath promiſed his Grace ſhall be ſufficient; he will make my Bed in my Sickneſs, and put under his everlaſting Arms for my ſupport, and not ſuffer me to be tempted above what I am able; he will encreaſe my Patience, and carry me thro' the pangs of Death, and the dark Valley, and when Heart and Fleſh fail, be the ſtrength of my Heart, and my Portion for Ever.
I may dye this Year; What if it ſhould be by an hand of Violence; if for Righteouſneſs ſake, in defence of the Truth, for a good Cauſe, and a good Conſcience, and my Peace be made with God, and I am accuſed for doing well, or innocent of the Evil which is laid to my charge; there is ground enough for encouragement and ſupport. Thouſands of my Betters have met with the like, whoſe names are precious and renowned. Innumerable Chriſtians have dyed by the Sentence of a Judge, with more Chearfulneſs and Joy, than others, or it may be, than they themſelves would have done, by the ſentence of the Phyſician. The Torture of many Diſeaſes is unſpeakably more formidable, as to the meer Pain; and for all elſe, the Righteous Lord who loveth Righteouſneſs, will clear my Integrity, if it may beſt ſubſerve his own Great and Holy Ends: At leaſt, he will ſtand by and help me, when all forſake me; and if He ſpeak Peace, and give inward Conſolation, who can ſpeak Trouble? And his final Judgment, which is near at hand, will diſtribute rewards and puniſhments to all, according to their works.
Suppoſe farther, that I ſhould want a Scpulcher, after Death. There is nothing I could better be without. If God receive my Soul, and will raiſe my Body at the laſt day, whether it putrifie and conſume under ground, or above it, is no great matter. They who are alive will be more concerned in that, than I ſhall be; Graves are for the ſake of the Living rather than the Dead. The Sun, the Rain, the Air, Birds, Beaſts, Worms, will all contribute to give me Burial, if Men deny it. The only difference is, that it will be a little longer e're I am buried. If my Soul reſt in the Boſom of my Saviour, and by preſevering in the love and practice of the Truth, I have ſecured my Reputation with wiſe and good Men, I need not be ſollicitous what become of my Body. My Almighty Judge will raiſe me a glorious Body, like his own, and reunite it to my Soul, as eaſily, as certainly, as for any of thoſe, whoſe Bodies were preſerved in Caves and Vaults, in proud Sepulchers, and under ſtately Monuments.
I may dye this Year; and ſhall not then have the ſatisfaction to ſee my Children or neareſt Kindred Educated and Provided for, ſetled and diſpoſed of. But is not the everliving God the ſame? Cannot he as well take care of them when I am gone, as now? anſwer all my Prayers after my deceaſe? and exerciſe that Fatherly Care, Wiſdom, and Love; which ſhall diſpoſe of their Conditions, ſave them from Temptations, and ſupply all their Wants, and exceed all my Deſires, in reference to them? and fulfil his Covenant-promiſe from Generation to Generation, to the Childrens Children of them that fear him? O how weak is my Faith, that cannot truſt God in ſo common and plain a caſe!
Laſtly, I may dye this Year; and not live to ſee the ruin of the Antichriſtian Kingdom, and Intereſt, and the accompliſhment of many Excellent Promiſes, which concern the Reſt, and Peace, and Purity, and Glory of the Churches of Chriſt on earth, in the latter days. But have I not deſerved by my provoking Unbelief, Ingratitude, and Diſobedience, to dye in the Wilderneſs, and not behold the promiſed Land, or ſee the Peace of Jeruſalem? And will not the ſtruglings of Satan to ſupport Babylon, infer a diſmal night of darkneſs and diſtreſs, before the expected Morning of Deliverance? So that it may now, if ever, be truly ſaid, Henceforth, Bleſſed are the Dead, who dye in the Lord. And if God will take me to himſelf in the other World, I cannot poſſibly be a loſer: Tho' I ſhould not ſee the Beginnings of a New Heaven, and a New Earth, in this. However I rejoyce in Hope, and pray inceſſantly for the Reſurrection of the Witneſſes, and the rebuilding of Sion, and the more plentiful effuſion of the Holy Spirit, (the great comprehenſive Promiſe of the latter Times) to effect a glorious Kingdom for Chriſt on Earth: And my Faith aſſures me, I ſhall hereafter ſee the Son of God revealed from Heaven, cloathed with Majeſty, ſitting on a Cloud, leading the Heavenly Hoſt, raiſing the Dead by his powerful Voice, ſummoning all the World to appear to Judgment, gathering his Elect, and finally deſtroying Death, and him that had the Power of it, the Devil, condemning the wicked to everlaſting Deſtruction, but acquitting, honouring, and rewarding his poor Members, with infinite and Eternal Bleſſedneſs.