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himself, resembled the punishment of sin in hell, without trembling he was, indeed, a sad instance of the wrath of God breaking in upon conscience; and is set up as a monument to warn others, to take heed of apostacy; and in this, and suchlike instances, we have a convincing proof of the reality of a future state of misery; or, that the punishment of sin in hell is not an ungrounded fancy: nevertheless, it is not for us to enter into those secrets which belong not to us, or to reckon him among the damned in another world, because he reckoned himself among them in this. And as for any others that we may see in the like circumstances, we are not so much to pass a judgment concerning their future state, as to infer the despe rate estate of sinners, when left of God, and to bless him that it is not our case. And on the other hand, let not unregenerate sinners think that they are safe, merely because their consciences are quiet, or rather stupid, since that false peace, which they have, is no better than the hope of the hypocrite, which shall perish, and be cut off; and his trust shall be as a spider's web, if he continue in his present condition.

From what has been said concerning the happiness of the righteous, in the enjoyment they have of the first fruits of the heavenly glory, we may learn,

(1.) That this may afford farther conviction to us, that there is a state of complete blessedness reserved for the saints in another world; since, besides the arguments we have to prove this taken from scripture, we have others founded in experience, so far as it is possible for any to attain to the joys of heaven before they come there. Though the instances we have here given thereof are uncommon, yet this inference from them is just, and may afford matter of conviction to those who are wholly taken up with earthly things, and have no taste of, nor delight in things spiritual, that religion has its own rewards attending it, and consequently that a believer is the only happy man in the world.

(2.) This may serve as an encouraging motive to induce Christians to hold on their way. Whatever difficulties or distressing providences they may meet with in this life, if they have the earnest and foretastes of heaven at any time, this will make their afflictions seem light; inasmuch as they work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And if they are rather waiting and hoping for them, than actually enjoying them, let them adore and depend on the sovereignty of God, who dispenses these comforts when he pleases: and if they are destitute of the joy of faith, let them endeavour to be found in the lively exercise of the direct acts thereof, trusting in Christ, though they have not such sensible communion with him as others have; and let them bless God, (though they have

not those foretastes of the heavenly glory, which accompany a full assurance thereof,) if they have a quiet, composed frame of spirit, and are not given up to desponding thoughts, or unbelieving fears, and have ground to conclude, that though their state be not so comfortable as that of others; yet it is no less safe, and shall, at last, issue into the fruition of that felicity of which others have the first-fruits here on earth.

(3.) Let them who are at any time favoured with this privilege of assurance, and the joy that arises from it, walk very humbly with God, as being sensible that this frame of spirit is not owing to themselves, but to the quickening and sealing influences of the Holy Ghost; and if, by neglecting to depend on him for the continuance thereof, we provoke him to leave us to ourselves, we shall soon lose this desirable frame, and be left in darkness: since as without him we can do nothing, so without his continued presence we can enjoy none of those privileges which tend to make our lives comfortable, and give us an anticipation of future glory.

QUEST. LXXXIV. Shall all men die?

ANSW. Death being threatened as the wages of sin, it is appointed unto all men once to die; for that all have sinned.

QUEST. LXXXV. Death being the wages of sin, why are not the righteous delivered from death, seeing all their sins are forgiven in Christ?

ANSW. The righteous shall be delivered from death itself at

the last day, and even in death are delivered from the sting and curse of it; so that, although they die, yet it is out of God's love, to free them perfectly from sin and misery, and to make them capable of farther communion with Christ in glory, which they then enter upon.

N these answers we have an account,

I. Of the unalterable purpose of God, or his appointment that all men once must die; which is also considered as the wages of sin.

II. It is supposed, that death has a sting and curse attending it with respect to force.

III. It is the peculiar privilege of the righteous, that though they shall not be delivered from death, yet this shall redound to their advantage: For,

1. The sting and curse of it is taken from them.

2. Their dying is the result of God's love to them; and that in three respects,

(1.) As they are thereby freed from sin and misery. (2.) As they are made capable of farther communion with Christ in glory, beyond what they can have in this world.

(3.) As they shall immediately enter upon that glorious and blessed state when they die.

I. God has determined, by an unalterable purpose and decree, that all men must die. Whatever different sentiments persons may have about other things, this remains an incontestable truth. We have as much reason to conclude that we shall leave the world, as, at present, we have that we live in it. I know, says Job, that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living, Job xxx. 23. and upon this account the Psalmist says, I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were, Psal. xxxix. 12. And if scripture had been wholly silent about the frailty of man, daily experience would have afforded a sufficient proof of it. We have much said concerning man's mortality in the writings of the heathen; but they are at a loss to determine the origin or first cause of it; and therefore they consider it as the unavoidable consequence of the frame of nature, arising from the contexture thereof, as that which is formed out of the dust must be resolved into its first principle; or that which is composed of flesh and blood, cannot but be liable to corruption. But we have this matter set in a true light in scripture, which considers death as the consequence of man's first apostacy from God. Before this he was immortal, and would have always remained so, had he not violated the covenant, in which the continuance of his immortality was secured to him; the care of providence would have prevented a dissolution, either from the decays of nature, or any external means leading to it. And therefore some of the Socinian writers have been very bold in contradicting the express account we have hereof in Scripture, when they assert that death was, at first, the consequence of nature;* for which reason man would have been liable to it, though he had not sinned; whereas the apostle says, By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned, Rom. v. 12.

We have a particular account of this in the sentence God passed on our first parents immediately after their fall; when having denounced a curse upon the ground for their sake, he says, Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return, Gen. iii. 19. And it may be observed, that as this is unavoidable, pursuant to the decree of God, so the constitution of our nature, as well as the external dispensations of providence, lead to it. This sentence no sooner took place, but the temperament of

• Sequela nature.

human bodies was altered, the jarring principles of nature, on the due temperament whereof life and health depends, could not but have a tendency by degrees to destroy the frame thereof; if there be too great a confluence of humours, or a defect thereof; if heat or cold immoderately prevails; if the circulation of the blood and juices be too swift or slow: or if the food on which we live, or the air which we breathe be not agreeable to the constitution of our nature, or any external violence be offered to it; all these things have a necessary tendency to weaken the frame of nature, and bring on a dissolution. David includes the various means by which men die, in three general heads, speaking concerning Saul, The Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle, and perish: the Lord shall smite him, 1 Sam. xxvi. 10. denotes a person's dying by a sudden stroke of providence, in which there is the more immediate hand of God; and his falling into battle, a violent death by the hands of men; in both which respects men die before that time which they might have lived to, according to the course of nature; and what is said concerning his day's coming to die; that is, a person's dying what we call a natural death, or when nature is so spent and wasted that it can no longer subsist by all the skill of the physicians, or virtue of medicine; and then the soul leaves its habitation, when it is not longer able to perform the functions of life.

We might here consider those diseases that are the fore-runners of death, which sometimes are more acute; and by this means, as one elegantly expresses it, nature feels the cruel victory before it yields to the enemy. As a ship that is tossed by a mighty tempest, and by the concussion of the winds and waves, loses its rudder and masts, takes water in every part, and gradually sinks into the ocean: so in the shipwreck of nature, the body is so shaken and weakened by the violence of a disease, that the senses, the animal and vital operations decline, and, at last, are extinguished in death. This seemed so for midable to good Hezekiah, that he utters that mournful complaint, Mine age is departed and removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver, my life; he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night, wilt thou make an end of me. I reckoned till the morning, that as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me, Isa. xxxvii. 12, 13.

We might here consider the empire of death as universal; as the wise man says, One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, Eccl. i. 4. and then they pass away also, like the ebbing and flowing of the sea. Death spares none; the

Before this there was what some call temperamentum ad pondus, which was lost by sin; and a broken constitution, leading to mortality ensued thereupm. See Dr. Bates on Death, chap. ii.

strongest constitution can no more withstand its stroke, than the weakest; no age of man is exempted from it. This is beautifully described by Job; One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet: his breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow: and another dieth in the bitterness of his soul; and never eateth with pleasure: they shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them, Job xxi. 23-26.

We might also consider the body after death, as a prey for worms, the seat of corruption; and lodged in the grave, the house appointed for all living; and then an end is put to all the actions, as well as enjoyments of this life; and, as the Psalmist speaks, In that very day all their thoughts perish, Psal. cxlvi. 4. Whatever they have been projecting, whatever schemes they have laid, either for themselves or others, are all broken: as the historian observes concerning the Roman emperor, that when he had formed great designs for the advantage of the empire, death broke all his measures, and prevented the execution thereof.

We might also consider it as putting an end to our present enjoyments, removing us from the society of our dearest friends, to a dismal and frightful solitude. This was one of the consequences thereof, that was very afflictive to Hezekiah, when he says, I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world, Isa. xxxviii. 11. It also strips us of all our possessions, and the honours we have been advanced to in this world, as the Psalmist speaks, When he dieth he shall carry nothing away, his glory shall not descend after him, Psal. xlix. 27.

We might also consider the time of life and death as being in God's hand. As we were brought into the world by the sovereignty of his providence, so we are called out of it at his pleasure; concerning whom it is said, Our times are in his hand, Psal. xxxi. 15. So that as nothing is more certain than death, nothing is more uncertain to us than the time when. This God has concealed from us for wise ends. Did we know that we should soon die, it would discourage us from attempting any thing great in life; and did we know that the lease of life was long, and we should certainly arrive to old age; this might occasion the delaying all concerns about our soul's welfare, as presuming that it was time enough to think of the affairs of religion and another world, when we apprehend ourselves to be near the confines thereof; and therefore, God has by this, made it our wisdom, as well as our duty, to be waiting all the days of our appointed time, till our change come.

From what has been said under this head, we may learn, 1. The vanity of man as mortal. Indeed, if we look on believers as enjoying that happiness which lies beyond the grave, • Vid. Sueton. in Vit. Jul. Cæs. Talia agentem atq; meditantem mors prævenit,

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