Upon Death. ness, grant that it may be for the setting forth of thy glory among men. If thou take me by sickness from this world, O thou Hope and Life of my soul, receive me to thyself for my everlasting happiness, and present me, as another monument of sovereign grace, before the great assembly of saints and angels in thy kingdom of heaven! CHAP. XLV. UPON DEATH. It is an awful and a solemn thing to die, and I am sometimes amazed at myself, that, seeing it is not only awful but sure, I can be so void of reflection or recollection, as I frequently am, concerning it. Some talk bravely about death, and of encountering it with great natural courage, or upon high philosophical principles. These may indeed defy or meet the sting; but they can neither soften nor take it away. For a sinner to bully death with no spiritual life in his soul, and no everlasting life in reversion, is the act of a desperate madman, who laughs at a horrible precipice before him, and rushes down headlong to de struction. O eternity! eternity! It is fearful indeed to burst the bonds of life, and to break forth into the boundless and unalterable regions of eternity! Nature, in its senses, cannot bear the shocking reflection, which death affords, either of being an everlasting nothing as atheists talk, or of enduring Death of the Believer. everlasting misery as sin deserves. It is grace only which can inspire the heart with a hope full of joy and immortality, that, when this brittle transitory life is past, the soul shall possess a being, happy and long as the days of heaven. Through Jesus Christ alone is death disarmed. When the Saviour speaks peace and salvation, through his cross and righteousness, this last great enemy is no more the king of terrors. He gives up his fearful sting, and destroys nothing about the Christian, but sin and the means of sin. O how sweet is the smile of that Christian, who, dying in the body, feels himself just upon living for ever! "He is not sick unto death, but unto life," indeed. He quits his cares, his sorrows, his infirmities, and all that could distress or distract his spirit here, and looks cal.nly into the state before him, where he can meet with nothing but concord and joy, in the society of the redeemed and of his Saviour. He is weaned from the earth, and therefore can part with it easily: He is fitted for heaven, and therefore longs for it earnestly. He cannot but desire that, which is congenial with his own renewed mind; and this cau truly and perfectly be found, only in the regions of glory. They who afflict themselves (said a primitive Christian writer) about the loss of this life, are like the infants unborn, who, if they could reflect and speak, might bewail an expulsion from the womb at the approaching time of their birth; foolishly considering it, not as the means, but as the end of being. So men, in their natural state, may indeed deplore their removal from this world, for which only they desire to live; but the re Inward peace. newed Christian is privileged to have a more glorious hope of a life everlastingly pure like God's, and of an habitation wide and beautiful as the -temple of heaven. Lord, when I shall quit this clay, I know not; nor do I desire to know. It is quite sufficient for me, if thou sustain me by thy grace now ; and if I am divinely assured, that I shall be for ever with thee in the world to come. O that this invincible joy of the Lord may indeed be my strength, when I lie down upon the bed of languishing and death, waiting from moment to moment for Christ, and for my dismission to be with him. Whene'er my head must take its last repose, O keep thy presence nigh, my God, my friend; While to thy Spirit's care I mine commend! Soon this body shall turn to the dust, from whence it was framed: but nothing can extinguish the life of my spirit, which hath no relation to earth, which cannot subsist by matter and form, and which, in its faculties of will, understanding, love, and perception, is of kin to a brighter world. And, O how reviving is the thought! I am not only of kin to angels and heavenly spirits by the very nature of my soul; but I am doubly related to them and to my God, by being born again and renewed after his blessed image or likeness though Christ Jesus. I am made by this act his own child and the heir of an everlasting inheritance. All that death, then, can do to me is, to tell me that I am of age, and to lead me forth from these cham- › bers of darkness to celebrate my birth-day in the palace of glory. There is in this view (what hath Triumph in Death. often been tasted) a kind of luxury in dying. In such a blessed, such an animating sense of death, I ought to say, that he might well bear another name; or, rather, I might exult with the prophet and apostle, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Whence then, at times, is the shuddering re luctance I feel at the prospect of dying? Surely it is, because my faith and hope are not so lively as they are privileged to be; it is because I do not so steadily trust in the truth of those things, which my mind apprehends, and which I profess to be waiting for. Earth is too real, and heaven too unreal; or I could not thus hesitate, or tremblingly stand, on the bank of the brook, which keeps me from the fruition of God. The struggle of my heart would not be for longer and longer continuance here, if my spirit were as firmly persuaded as it should be, of my inheritance and mansion in glory. Thou blessed Saviour of poor sinners like me, on thee alone my eyes are fixed! In the solemn last hour of my pilgrimage below, O let my eyes of faith be yet more steadily and more ardently fixed upon thee! And do thou, in the tender compassion of thy heart, which can sympathize with all thy people's woes, look down in my departing moments upon me. Soothe the pangs of death with thy rich consolation and care. Let me then see thee indeed by precious faith, who to carnal sense art invisible; ready, willing, glad, to receive my soul; and let me pour it forth, in an ecstacy of praise and desire, as into the bosom of everlasting love! O my God, thus to die, would not be dying; but only beginning to live and to be happy for ever. K Prayer to God. So true are thy gracious words, O my Jesus, that Whosoever liveth and believeth in thee, shall never die: No, he shall never perish, but is passed from death unto life, and shall live for evermore. Glory be to thee for this rich, this invaluable promise! Lord, I believe; O help mine unbelief! CHAP. XLVI. THE RECOLLECTION OF THIS SECOND PART IN PRAYER TO GOD. ENABLE me, O Lord my God! to examine myself, the state of my soul, and the reality and growth of my experience, seriously, deeply, and constantly. I am still clothed with a corrupt nature, and therefore am always inclined to favour myself; and nothing but thy grace can give me a faithful distrust of my own condition and attainments, or an holy watchfulness over all that passeth within me. As I have received Christ Jesus my Lord, so I know it is my interest, privilege, happiness, and duty, to walk, to live, to grow, and to press forward in him. O keep me from spiritual sloth, or, as it may better be called, from carnal security, that I may run, with the loins of my mind always girt and disentangled, and with increasing faith and patience, the blessed race which thou hast set before me. Give zeal for every duty, wisdom and strength rightly to perform it, and a humble holy resignation of heart to leave all the success unto thee. |