A Believer's Last
Day, His Best Day
"For
to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain!"
Philippians 1:21
Beloved, I am here at this
time to speak a word to the living, my business being not to speak anything of
the dead. Be pleased, therefore, to cast your eye upon Ecclesiastes 7:1:
"A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than
the day of birth." I shall discourse upon the latter part of this verse at
this time: "The day of death is better than the day of birth."
The Greeks say, "that the
beginning of a man's nativity—is the begetting of his misery."
Job 14:1, "Man who is
born of a woman is born to trouble" and sorrow. The word which is there
rendered "born," signifies also generated or conceived; to note to us
that man is miserable as soon as he is warm in the womb; he comes crying into
the world. Before ever the child speaks, he prophesies by his tears—of his
ensuing sorrows.
And this made Solomon to
prefer his coffin before his crown, the day of his dissolution before the day
of his coronation. But not to hold you longer from what is mainly intended, the
observation that I shall speak to at this time is this—That a believer's
last day is his best day! His dying-day is better than his birthday! This
will be a very sweet and useful point to all believers.
1. I shall first
demonstrate the truth, that a believer's last day is his best day!
1. Death is a change of
PLACE. When a believer
dies, he does but change his place. He changes earth for heaven, a wilderness
for a Canaan, an Egypt for a land of Goshen, a dunghill for a palace: as it is
said of Judas, that "he went to his place," Acts 1:25. An unbeliever
is not yet in his place—hell is his place. Just so, when a believer dies he
goes to his place. Heaven, the bosom of Christ, is his place. And that speaks
out the truth asserted, that a believer's dying day is his best day.
"We are confident, I say,
and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord."
2 Corinthians 5:8. A believer is not at present, in his place. His soul is
still working and warring, and he cannot rest until he comes to center in the
bosom of Christ. This Paul well understood when he said, "I desire to
depart and be with Christ, which is better by far!" Phil. 1:23. I would
gladly weigh anchor, hoist sail, and cruise home. And upon this account those
precious souls groaned for deliverance, "Meanwhile we groan, longing to be
clothed with our heavenly dwelling!" 2 Corinthians 5:2 Why is this?
"While we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord," ver. 6. We
are not in our place, and therefore we groan to be at home—that is, to be in
heaven, to be in the bosom of Christ, which is our proper place, our most
desirable home.
2. Death is a change of
COMPANY. In this
world, the godliest man must live with the wicked, and converse with the
wicked, etc.; and this is a part of their misery; it is their hell on this side
heaven. This stuck upon the spirit of David: Psalm 120:5, "Woe to me that
I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!" [I have read of
a godly woman, who, being near death, cried out, "O Lord, let me not go to
hell where the wicked are, for you know that I never loved their company while
in this life!"] And so Jer. 9:2, "Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging
place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for
they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people!" And this was that
that did vex and tear Lot's righteous soul: 2 Peter 2:7-8, "Lot, a
righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that
righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous
soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard." Oh—but death is a change of
company. A godly man does but change the company of profane people, of vile
people, etc., for the company of angels; and the company of weak Christians for
the company of just men made perfect. That is a remarkable place, "But you
have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the
church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to
God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to
Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, " Hebrews 12:22-24. Here is a change
indeed. Death is a change of company as well as a change of place. And if this
be but well weighed, it must needs be granted that a believer's dying day is
better than his birthday.
3. Death is a change of
EMPLOYMENT. A
believing soul when he dies, changes his work and employment. I open it thus:
The work of a believer in this world, lies in praying, groaning, sighing,
mourning, wrestling, and fighting, etc. And we see throughout the Scripture
that the choicest saints, who have had the highest visions of God, have driven
this trade; they have spent their time in praying, groaning, mourning,
wrestling, and fighting: Eph. 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and
blood—but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
[Probus a valiant Roman emperor's motto was, "No fight—no pay!" Just
so, I say, "No fight—no crown! No fight—no heaven!"] The truth is,
the very life of a believer is a continual warfare. Believers have to deal with
subtle enemies, malicious enemies, vigilant enemies, and untiring enemies. They
have to deal with such enemies as threw down Adam in paradise, the most
innocent man in the world, and that threw down Moses, the meekest man in the
world, and Job, the patientest man in the world, and Joshua, the most
courageous man in the world, and Paul, the best apostle in the world, etc. A
Christian's life is a warfare. Job says, "All the time of my warfare will
I wait, until my change come," Job 14:14. "I am still
a-fighting," says Job, "with lusts and corruptions within, and with
devils and men abroad!" "All the time of my warfare will I wait until
my change come." Just so, in 2 Tim. 4:8, "I have fought the good fight
of faith," etc.
Death is a change of
employment. It changes our hard service, our work that lies in mourning,
wrestling, and fighting—for rejoicing and singing hallelujahs to the Almighty!
No longer prayers—but praises! No longer fighting and wrestling—but dancing and
triumphing! Can a believing soul look upon this glorious change, and not say,
Surely "better is the day of a believer's death than the day of his
birth"? Death's shroud wipes away all tears from the believer's eyes! Rev.
7:9.
4. Death is a change of
ENJOYMENTS, as well as
a change of employments. I shall express this in three considerable things—
(1.) Death is a change of our
more dark and obscure enjoyment of God—for a more clear and sweet enjoyment
of God. I say, the best believer who breathes in this world, who does see
and enjoy most of God, and the visions of his glory—yet he does not enjoy God
so clearly—but that he is much in the dark.
The apostle Paul was a
man who was high in his enjoyments of God—yet while he was here in the flesh,
he did but see as through a dark glass. "Now we see but a poor reflection
as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I
shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12
God told Moses that he
could not see his face and live. The truth is, we are able to bear but little
of the discoveries of God, there being such a mighty majesty and glory in all
the spiritual discoveries of God. We are weak, and able to take in little of
God. We have but dark apprehensions of God. Witness our tears, sighs, groans,
and complaints, because we go forward and backward. We look on the right hand
and on the left, as Job speaks, Job 23:8-9, and God hides himself that we
cannot see him. Plutarch tells of Eudoxus, that he would be willing to be burnt
up presently by the sun, so he might be admitted to come so near it as to learn
the nature of it. This is upon the heart of believers, "Lord, let us be
burnt up—so we may see you more in all your glorious manifestations; let us be
poor, let us be anything—just so that we may be taken up into a more clear
enjoyment of yourself." [Chrysostom professes that the lack of the
enjoyment of God would be a far greater hell to him, than the feeling of any
punishment.] Ask those who live highest in the enjoyment of God, "What is
your greatest burden?" They will tell you, "This is our greatest
burden, that our apprehensions of God are no more clear, that we cannot see him
whom our souls do dearly love, face to face!" Oh—but now in heaven saints
shall have a clear vision of God! There are no clouds or mists in heaven!
(2.) Death is a change of our
imperfect and incomplete enjoyments of God, for a more complete and perfect
enjoyment of him. As no believer has a clear sight of God here, so
no believer has a full and perfect sight of God here. In Job
26:14, how little a portion is heard of him—speaking of God—and of that is
heard, ah how little a portion is understood! It is an excellent expression
that Augustine has: "The glorious things of heaven are so many—that they
exceed number; so precious—that they exceed estimation; so great—that they
exceed measure!" Bernard says, "For Christ to be with Paul was the
greatest security—but for Paul to be with Christ was the chief happiness!"
Chrysostom says, "If it were possible that all the sufferings of the
saints should be laid upon one man, it could not equal one hour's being in
heaven!" Such is the greatness and fullness of that glory above. The
saints' motto is, "Let us go hence! Let us go hence!
So in 1 Cor. 13:12, "Now
we see through a glass darkly—but then face to face. Now I know in part—but
then shall I know even as also I am known." The soul, while it is in this
present world, says, "I enjoy
something of God--and that I
would not lack for a thousand
worlds—yet my enjoyment is not
full." If you should say, "Souls, why do you wait upon God in this
ordinance and that ordinance?" they will answer, "That we may enjoy
God more fully. Oh, that I might be filled with the fullness of God!"
There are no complaints in
heaven, because there are no needs. Oh, when death shall give the fatal stroke,
there shall be an exchange of earth—for heaven; of imperfect enjoyments—for
perfect enjoyments of God; then the soul shall be swallowed up with a full
enjoyment of God; no corner of the soul shall be left empty—but all shall be
filled up with the fullness of God. Here in this present world, they receive grace—but
in heaven they shall receive glory. God keeps the best wine until last;
the best of God, Christ, and heaven—is beyond this present world. Here we have
but some sips, some tastes of God; fullness is reserved for the glorious state.
He who sees most of God here on earth, sees but his back parts; his face is a
jewel of that splendor and glory, which no eye can behold but a glorified eye.
The best of Christians are
able to take in but little of God; their hearts are like the widow's vessel,
which could receive but a little oil. Sin, the world, and creatures do take up
so much room in the best hearts, that God gives out himself little by little,
as parents give sweets to their children. But in heaven God will communicate
himself fully at once to the soul! Grace shall then be swallowed up of glory!
(3.) Death is a change of a
more inconstant and transient enjoyment of God—for a more constant and
permanent enjoyment of God. Here on earth, the saints' enjoyment of God is
inconstant. One day they enjoy God, and another day the soul sits and complains
in anguish of spirit. He who should "comfort my soul stands afar
off;" my glass is out, my sun is set, and what can make up the lack of
this sun? As all candle-light, star-light, and torch-light, cannot make up the
lack of the light of the sun; so when the Sun of righteousness hides his face,
it is not all creature-comforts that can make up the lack of his countenance.
[By death, saints come to a
fixed and invariable eternity. What will that life be—or rather, what will not
that life be—since all good is in such a life—light which place cannot limit,
music which time cannot vanish away, fragrances which are never dissipated, a
feast which is never consumed, a blessing which eternity bestows—but eternity
shall never see at an end.]
David sometimes could say that
"God was his portion, and his salvation, and his strong tower," and
what not; and yet shortly cries out, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why
so disturbed within me?" In one place he says, "I will never be
shaken," Psalm 30:6; and yet presently it follows, "You hide your
face from me, and I was troubled," ver. 7. And this is the state of a
believer in this world. But in heaven there shall no clouds arise between the
Lord and a believing heart. God will not one day smile, and another day frown;
one day take a soul in his arms, and another day lay that soul at his feet.
This is his dealing with his people here. But in heaven there are nothing but
kisses and embraces, nothing but a perpetual enjoyment of God. When once God
takes the soul unto himself, it shall never be night with it any more—never
dark with that soul any more, etc.; all tears shall then be wiped away. That is
a sweet word in the 1 Thes. 4:17-18, "And so we will be with the Lord
forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words." There are
angels and archangels in heaven. Yes—but they do not make heaven; Christ is the
most sparkling diamond in the ring of glory! It is heaven and happiness enough
to see Christ, and to be forever with Christ. Now, oh what a glorious change is
this! Methinks these things should make us long for our dying-day, and account
this present life but a lingering death.
5. Death is a change, which
puts an end to all CHANGES.
What is the whole life of a man—but a life of changes? Death is a change that
puts an end to all external changes. Here on earth, you often change
your joy for sorrow, your health for sickness, your strength for weakness, your
honor for dishonor, your plenty for poverty, your beauty for deformity, your
friends for foes, your silver for brass, and your gold for copper. Now the
comforts of a man are smiling, the next hour they are dying, etc. All temporals
are as transitory as a rapid torrent, a ship, a bird, an arrow, a runner who
passes by. Man himself—the king of these outward comforts—what is he—but a mere
nothing?—the dream of a dream, a shadow, a bubble, a flash, a blast. Now death
puts an end to all external changes: there shall be no more sickness, no more
complaints, no more needs, etc.
And then death also puts an
end to all internal changes. Now the Lord smiles upon the soul, and at another
time he frowns upon the soul. Now God gives assistance to conquer sin, before
long the man is carried captive by his sin; now he is strengthened against the
temptation, in a short while he falls before the temptation, etc. Job was
heroic in the midst of storms, and speaks like an angel—but when his body was
afflicted, and the arrows of the Almighty stuck in him, and his day was turned
into night, and his rejoicing into mourning, etc., then a man would have
thought him an incarnate devil, by his cursing. But death puts an end to
internal changes, as well as external changes. Now the soul shall be tempted no
more, sin no more, be foiled no more. Now you may judge by this, that a
Christian's dying-day is his best day.
Death is another Moses: it
delivers believers out of bondage, and from making bricks in Egypt. It is a day
or year of jubilee to a gracious spirit—the year wherein he goes out free from
all those cruel taskmasters which it had long groaned under. The heathen gods
held death to be man's summum bonum, his chief good; therefore, when one
of them had built and dedicated the temple at Delphos, he asked of Apollo for
his recompense the thing that was best for man: the oracle told him that he
should go home, and within three days he should have it—within which time he
died. Thus the very heathens themselves have consented to this truth, that a
man's dying-day is his best day.
6. Death is a change, which
brings the soul to an eternal REST.
Death is the bringing of the soul to bed—to a state of eternal rest. [Death is
a rest from the trouble of our labors, a rest from afflictions, a rest from
persecutions, a rest from temptation, a rest from desertion, a rest from sin,
and a rest from sorrow, Gen. 8:8.] That is the last demonstration of the point,
that a believer's dying-day is his best day. Now while we are here in this
present world, the soul is in a perpetual agitation. The godliest man in the
world—who is highest and clearest in his enjoyments of God—is too often like to
Noah's dove, which found no rest: either he lacks some temporal mercy or
spiritual mercy—and will do so until his soul is swallowed up in the
everlasting enjoyments of God! Death brings a man to an unchangeable rest!
Rev. 14:13, "Write:
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." Why? "They
will rest from their labor." Oh, says he, write it down as a thing of
worth and weight, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.
They will rest from their labor." Death brings the soul to unchangeable
rest.
"The righteous perish,
and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one
understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who
walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in
death." Isaiah 57:1-2
Oh, death is a change which
brings a soul to unchangeable rest; it brings a soul to bed. This was that that
made Paul long "to be dissolved, and to be with Christ;" and the
Corinthians to groan for deliverance. [Laurence Saunders kissing the stake,
said, Welcome the cross of Christ, welcome everlasting life. Faninus, the
Italian martyr, kissed him who brought him word of his execution. It was a
notable saying of blessed Cooper, "Many a day have I sought death with
tears; not out of impatience or distrust," says he, "but because I am
weary of sin, and fearful to fall into it." You know how the martyrs
hugged the stake, and welcomed every messenger of death which came to them, and
clapped their hands in the midst of the flames.
Death is a believer's coronation-day,
it is his marriage-day. It is a rest from sin, a rest from sorrow, a rest from
afflictions and temptations, etc. Death to a believer is an entrance into
Abraham's bosom, into paradise, into the "New Jerusalem," into the
joy of his Lord.
And thus much for the doctrinal
part. You see that it is clear, by these six things, that a believer's
dying-day is his best day, and the day of his death better than the day of his
birth.
I might by many other
arguments demonstrate this truth to you—but let these suffice; because I would
not willingly keep you longer from the PRACTICAL APPLICATION of the
point—application being the life of all teaching.
1. Never mourn immoderately
at the death of any believer, let them be the most excellent and useful who
ever lived. Death is
not the death of the man—but the death of his sin. Death is to them the
greatest gain; and it speaks out much selfishness in us to be more absorbed
with the gain and benefit which redounds to us by their lives, than with the
happiness and glory that redounds to them by their deaths. In the primitive
times, when God had passed the sentence of death upon their dearest comforts,
Christians behaved at a more high, sweet, and noble rate than now-a-days they
do.
Remember this—death does that
in a moment, which no graces, no duties, nor any ordinances could do for a man
all his lifetime! Death frees a man from those diseases, corruptions,
temptations, etc., that no duties, nor graces, nor ordinances could do. When
Abraham came to mourn for his deceased Sarah, he mourned moderately for her,
because her dying-day was her best day. When Luther, that famous instrument of
God, buried his daughter, he was not seen to shed a tear. Just so, Mr. Whately,
who was famous in his time, where as he had preached his own child's funeral
sermon upon this subject, "The will of the Lord be done," he and his
wife laid their own child in the grave. [The people in Thrace mourn and greatly
lament at the birth of their children, because of the sorrows and troubles they
are born to; and they greatly joy and rejoice at the death of their children,
because death is the funeral of all their sorrows. Death is not such as some
would paint it. It was the saying of a heathen man, That the whole life of a
man should be nothing else but a meditation on death. See Deut. 32:29.
Alexander the Great did ask the Indian philosopher how long a man should live;
says he, Until he think it better to die than to live.] That is the first use,
let us not mourn immoderately for any believer's death.
2. Do not fear death. Compose your spirits; say not of death
as that wicked prince said to the prophet, "Have you found me, O my
enemy?" 1 Kings 21:20—but rather long for it, not to be rid of
troubles—but that the soul may be taken up to a more clear and full enjoyment
of God. Your dying-day is your best day. Good Jacob dies with a sweet
composed spirit; he calls for his children, and blesses and kisses them, and
gathers up his feet into his bed, and dies. Moses, that morning that the
messenger came to him, and told him he must die, he goes up the hill, sees the
land of Canaan at a distance, and dies. Joseph built his sepulcher in his own
garden. And some philosophers had their graves always open before their gates,
that going out and coming in they might always think of death, for in life they
found comforts to be rare, crosses frequent, pleasures momentary, and pains
permanent. Believers, your dying-day is your best day. Oh, then, be not afraid
of death, and that you may not, remember that it is not such a slight matter as
some make it, to be unwilling to die. There is much reproach cast upon God, by
believers being unwilling to die. You talk much of God, heaven, and glory,
etc.—and yet when you should come to go and share in this glory, you shrug and
say, "Spare me a little while!" Is not this a reproach to the God of
glory? But that this counsel may stick upon you, remember these five things—
[1.] Christ's death is a
meritorious death. Can
a believer think upon the death of Christ as meriting peace with God, pardon of
sin, justification, glorification—and yet be afraid to die? What! is the death
of Christ thus meritorious, and shall we still be unwilling to depart?
[2.] Is not death a sword
in your Father's hand?
It is true, a sword in a madman's hand, or in an enemy's hand,
might make one tremble—but when the sword is in the father's hands, the
child does not fear. Grant that death is a sword—yet why should the child fear
and be afraid, when it is in the father's hand—who will be sure to handle it so
as he shall not be hurt or harmed by it.
[3.] Remember that Christ's
death is a death-conquering death.
[The fear of death is worse than the pains of death, because fear of death
kills us often, whereas death itself can do it but once. "Let him fear
death that is loath to go to Christ," said Cyprian. "I fear not to
die—but I fear to be damned," says one. Luther, speaking of the blood of
Christ, says, "That one little drop is of more worth than heaven and earth."
If the souls under the altar cry, How long, Lord?—if they solicit for the day
of judgment, why not I for the day of death, since death's day is but the eve
of God's day? Zeno said, I have no fear but of old age.] Christ has taken away
the sting of death—so that it cannot hurt you. His death is a death-sanctifying
and a death-sweetening death. He has by his death sanctified and sweetened
death to us.
Death is a fall that came by a
fall. To die is to be no more unhappy, if we consider death aright.
"Oh," says one, "that I could see death, not as it was—but as
you, Lord, have now made it!" Death is the greatest monarch and the most
ancient king of the world. "Death reigned from Adam to Moses," says
Paul. Oh! but the Lord Jesus has, as it were, disarmed death, and triumphed
over death. He has taken away its sting, so that it cannot sting us, and we may
play with it, and put it into our bosoms, as we may a snake whose sting is
pulled out. The apostle, upon this consideration, challenges death, and
out-braves death, and bids death do his worst, "Where, O death, is your
victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the
power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:55-57
[4.] Did not Christ
willingly leave his Father's bosom for your sake? Did he not willingly die for
you? Did Christ plead
thus, These robes are too good for me to leave off, this crown too glorious for
me to lay aside, I am too great to suffer for such a people? No! He readily
leaves his Father's bosom, he lays down his crown, and puts off his robes, and
suffers a cursed, cruel, and ignominious death. Ah, souls, you should reason
thus, "Did Christ die for me that I might live with him? I will not
therefore desire to live long away from him." All men go willingly to see
him whom they love; and shall I be unwilling to die, that I may see him whom my
soul loves? Shall Christ lay aside all his glory and pomp, and marry a poor
soul that had neither portion nor loveliness; and shall this soul be unwilling
to go home to such a husband? Oh think of it, you souls who are unwilling to
die!
Present life is not life—but
the way to life; for when we cease to be men, we begin to be as angels. They
are only creatures of inferior nature who are pleased with the present. Man is
a future creature. The eye of his soul looks ahead. The laborer hastens
from his work to his bed, the mariner rows hard to gain the port, the traveler
is glad when he is near his inn; so should saints when they are near death,
because then they are near heaven, they are near their eternal home!
[5.] Are you not complete
in Christ? ["One
Christ will be to you instead of all things else, because in him are all good
things to be found." Augustine.] Why should a believer be afraid to die,
who stands complete before God in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus? If we
should appear in our own righteousness, in our own duties, it would be dreadful
to think of dying—but a believer is complete in him, etc. "You are
complete in him," Col. 2:10. In Rev. 14:4-5, they are said to be
"without fault before the throne of God;" and in Cant. 4:7, "All
beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you." A believer, when
he dies, he appears before God in the righteousness of Christ. All the spots
and blemishes of his soul are covered with the righteousness of Christ, which
is a matchless, spotless, peerless righteousness. Christ's spouse has
perfection of beauty; she is all "glorious within" and without, she
is spotless and blameless, she is the fairest among women, that she may be a
fit mate for him who is fairer than all the children of men, Psalm 45:2. The
saints are as that tree of paradise, Gen. 3—fair to his eye, and pleasant to
his palate. The saints are as Absalom, in whom there was no blemish from head
to foot. Think of these things to sweeten your last changes, and to make you
long to be in the bosom of Christ.
[6.] Sixthly, Consider that
the saints' dying-day is to them the Lord's pay-day. Every prayer shall then have its
answer; all hungerings and thirstings shall be filled and satisfied; every
sigh, groan, and tear that has fallen from the saints' eyes shall then be
recompensed. [That is not death but life, which joins the dying man to Christ!
That is not life but death, which separates the living man from Christ.] Then
they shall be paid and recompensed for all public service, and all family
service, and all closet service. Then a crown shall be set upon their heads,
and glorious robes put upon their backs, and golden scepters put into their
hands; their dying-day being the Lord's payday, they shall hear the Lord saying
to them, "Well done, good and faithful servants, enter into your Master's
joy," Mat. 15:21. In that day they shall find that God is not like
Antiochus, who promised often—but seldom gave. No! Then God will make good all
those golden and glorious promises that he has made to them, especially these
which are here cited. [Rev. 2:10, 3:4, 12, 22, and 7:16-17.] Now God will give
them gold for brass, and silver for iron, felicity for misery, plenty for
poverty, honor for dishonor, freedom for bondage, heaven for earth, an immortal
crown for a mortal crown!
[7.] Seventhly, Consider
this—the way to glory is by misery; the way to life is by death. In this world we are all Benonis—the
sons of sorrow. The way to heaven is by Weeping-cross. Christ's passion-week
was before his ascension-day; none passes to paradise but by burning seraphim;
we cannot go out of Egypt but through the Red Sea; the children of Israel came
to Jerusalem through the valley of tears, and crossed the swift river of Jordan
before they came to the sweet waters of Siloam. [A man will easily swallow a
bitter pill—to get health. The physician helps us with painful remedies—and yet
we reward him for it.] There is no passing into paradise but under the flaming
sword of this angel—death! There is no coming to that glorious city above, but
through this difficult, dark, dirty lane of death. No wiping all tears from
your eyes—but with your winding-sheet, which should make you entertain death,
not as a foe—but as a friend; not as a stranger—but as a guest that you had
long looked for, and welcome death as more blessed than your birth. [Death to a
believer is the gate of heaven; it is the door of life. It conveys us out of the
wilderness into Canaan, out of a troublesome sea into a quiet haven, John
14:1-3.] Every man is willing to go to his home, though the way which leads to
it be ever so dark, dirty, or dangerous; and shall believers be unwilling to go
to their homes, because they are to go through a dark entry to those glorious,
lightsome, and eternal mansions that Christ has prepared for them? Surely not!
[8.] Eighthly, Consider
that while we are in this world, our weak and imperfect and diseased bodies cast
chains, and fetters, restraints, hindrances, and impediments upon the soul,
that the soul is hindered from many high and noble actings. In heaven, the soul works clearer, and
understands better, and discourses wiser, and rejoices louder, and loves
nobler, and desires purer, and hopes stronger than it can do here. [When Plato
saw one over-indulgent to his body by high feeding it, he asked him what he
meant, to make his prison so strong.]
The soul is now encaged in a
body, and while it is in this body of clay, it cannot act like herself. It is
like a caged bird, whose nature is to soar aloft towards the place whence she
came. When the soul is upon the wings for heaven, the body like a lump of lead
pulls it down to the earth, etc.
Now the soul cannot look out
at the eyes but it will be infected, nor hear by the ears but it
will be distracted, nor smell at the nostrils and not be tainted, taste
by the tongue and not be allured, and touch by the hand and not
be defiled. Every sense and member is too ready upon every occasion and
temptation, to betray the soul; which should make us willing to die and to long
for that day wherein our bodies shall be glorified. [The Greeks call the body
the soul's chain, the soul's sepulcher.]
Ah, believers! it will be but
shortly, before those bodies of yours, which are now like a picture out of
frame, or a house out of repair, which are now deformed and diseased, etc.,
shall be agile and nimble, swift and facile in their motion. For clarity and
brightness they shall be like Christ's body when it was transfigured, Mat.
17:2; they shall be very amiable and beautiful, they shall be unchangeable and
immortal. Here our bodies are still dying. It is more proper to ask when we
shall make an end of dying, than to ask when we shall die. Death is a worm which
is always feeding at the root of our lives, which should make death more
desirable than life.
[9.] Ninthly, Dwell much
upon the readiness and willingness of other saints to die. Good old Simeon having first laid
Christ in his heart, and then taking him up in his arms, he sings, "Lord,
now let you your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your
salvation!" Luke 2:28-30. I have lived enough—I now have my life; I have
longed enough—I now have my love; I have seen enough—I now have my sight; I
have served enough—I now have my reward; I have sorrowed enough—I now have my
joy.
Just so, the believing
Corinthians, 2 Cor. 5:4, 8, they groaned earnestly to be clothed with their
house which is from heaven; they groaned that mortality might be swallowed up
of life, and "that they might be absent from the body, and present with
the Lord." Just so, Paul desires earnestly "to depart, and to be with
Christ, which is best of all," Phil. 1:23. Just so, those in Peter,
"they look for and hasten the coming of the day of God," 2 Pet. 3:12.
They are said to hasten the day of God, in respect of their earnest desires
after it, and in respect of their preparations for it. Just so, the souls under
the altar cry, "How long, Lord, how long?" etc., Rev. 6:9-10.
So Paula, that noble lady,
when one did read to her Cant. 2:11, "The winter is past, and the singing
of birds has come;" "Yes," she replied, "the singing of
birds has come," and so she went singing into heaven. Just so, Mr. Jewel
said, "Lord, now let your servant depart in peace; break off all delays;
Lord, receive my spirit." Further he said, "I have not so lived that
I am ashamed to live longer; neither do I fear to die—because we have a
merciful Lord. A crown of righteousness is laid up for me; Christ is my
righteousness."
So another, being in a swoon,
as her friends thought, a little before her end they cried, Give her a
cordial—but she put it back, saying, "I have cordials you know nothing
of." So Mr. Pearing, a little before his death, said, "I find and feel
so much inward joy and comfort in my soul, that if I were put to my choice
whether to die or live, I would a thousand times rather choose death than
life—if it might stand with the holy will of God." ["Let all the
devils in hell," says Augustine, "beset me round, let fasting
macerate my body, let sorrows oppress my mind, let pains consume my flesh, let
watching weary me, or heat scorch me, or cold freeze me, let all these—and
whatever more can come—happen unto me—just so that I may enjoy my Savior.] So
Mr. Bolton, lying on his death-bed, said, "I am by the wonderful mercies
of God, as full of comfort as my heart can hold, and feel nothing in my soul
but Christ, with whom I heartily desire to be."
Ah, Christians! if the
exceeding willingness of the saints to die will not make you willing to die,
what will?
[10.] Tenthly and lastly,
Consider this—that the Lord will not leave you—but be with you in that dying
hour. "Even
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me," says the
psalmist, Psalm 23:4. Just so, the apostle, Heb. 13:5, "Keep your lives
free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has
said—Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." There are five
negatives in the Greek, to assure God's people that he will never forsake them;
five times in Scripture is this precious promise renewed, that we may press it
until we have pressed the sweetness out of it. Though God may seem to leave you,
you may be confident he will never forsake you. Why should that man be afraid
of death, who may be always confident of the presence of the Lord of life?
[Maximilian the emperor was so delighted with that sentence, "If God is
with us—who shall be against us?" that he caused it to be written upon the
walls in most of the rooms of his palace.]
3. The next use shall be to stir you all up to prepare and fit you for your
dying-day. Ah,
Christians! what is your whole life—but a day to fit for the hour of death?
What is your great business in this world—but to prepare and fit for the
eternal world? It was a sad speech of Caesar Borgia, who being on his deathbed
said, "When I lived, I provided for everything but death! Now I must die,
and am unprovided to die." Ah, Christians! you have need every day to pray
with Moses, "Lord, teach us to number our days, that we may apply our
hearts to wisdom," Psalm 90:12; and to follow the counsel of the prophet
Jeremiah, "Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings the darkness,
before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he
will turn it to thick darkness and change it to deep gloom," Jer. 13:16.
Old age is the dark mountain which makes a broad
way narrow, and a plain way cragged. It is a high point of heavenly wisdom to
consider our latter end: "Oh, that they were wise, that that understood
this, that they would consider their latter end!" Deut. 23:19. Jerusalem
paid dearly for forgetting her latter end. Jerusalem's filthiness was in her
skirts, because she remembered not her latter end, therefore she was dreadfully
brought down.
To provoke you to prepare and
fit for a dying-day, consider seriously these following things—
(1.) He who prepares not
for his dying-day, runs the hazard of losing his immortal soul. Though true repentance is never too
late—yet late repentance is seldom true. "He who is not ready to repent
today, will be less ready tomorrow; his understanding will be more dark,
his heart more hard, his will more crooked, his affections more
distempered, his conscience more benumbed," etc. Bede tells a story
of a certain great man who was admonished in his sickness to repent, who
answered, "That he would not repent now, for if he should recover, his
companions would laugh at him;" but, growing sicker and sicker, he then
told them it was too late to repent— "For now," said he, "I am
judged and condemned." It is the greatest wisdom in the world to do that
every day, which a man would do on a dying-day, and to be afraid to live in
such a state, as a man would be afraid to die in. Ah, souls! you are
afraid to die in such and such sins; and will you not be afraid to live
in those sins?
(2.) Again, The certainty
of death, should cause you to prepare for death. When we would affirm anything to be
infallibly true, we say, "As sure as death." "It is
appointed," says the apostle, "unto men once to die—but after this
the judgment!" Heb. 9:27. [Psalm 89:48; Job 30:23; Eccles. 12:5.] "Once,"
implies two things—
[1.] A certainty--it shall be;
[2.] A singularity--it will be but once.
"What man lives—who shall
not see death?" says the psalmist; that is, no man lives and shall not see
death. In Job the grave is called "the house appointed for all the
living." The learned call death, "our long home," where men must
abide for a long time, even until the resurrection. To live without fear of
death—is to die living! To labor not to die—is labor in vain. Death has for its
motto, "I yield to none!" It is decreed that all must die. Every
man's death-day is his doom's-day.
The Jews have a saying:
"In the graveyard are to be seen skulls of all sizes;" that is, death
comes on the young as well as the old; the lot is fallen upon all, and
therefore all must die. All men are made of one mold and matter, "Dust you
are, and unto dust you shall return," Gen. 3:19. "All have sinned,
are fallen short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23; and therefore death
must pass upon all.
(3.) The uncertainty of the
time of your death, should cause you with open mouth to be in a constant
readiness and preparedness for death.
No man knows when he shall die, nor what kind of death he shall die—whether a
natural or a violent death. Augustus died in a compliment, Tiberius died in a
deception, Galba died with a sentence, Vespasian died with a jest! Zeuxes died
laughing at the picture of an old woman, which he drew with his own hand!
Sophocles was choked with the pit in a grape! Diodorus the logician died for
shame that he could not answer a silly question propounded at the dinner table!
Joannes Masius preaching upon the raising of the woman of Naomi's son from the
dead, within three hours after, died himself! Felix, Earl of Wurtemburgh,
sitting at supper with many of his friends, some at the table fell into
discourse about Luther, and the people's general receiving of his doctrine,
upon which the Earl swore a great oath, "that before he died he would ride
up to the spurs in the blood of Lutherans;" but the very same night God
stretched out his hand so against him, that he choked to death on his own
blood! Bibulus, a Roman general, while riding in triumph in all his glory—a
tile fell from a house in the street, and beat out his brains!
(4.) Consider, in the last
place—That it is a solemn thing to die. Death is a solemn parting of two near friends—soul and
body. Remember, all other preparations are to no purpose, if a man is not
prepared to die. What will it avail a man to prepare this and that for his
children, kindred, or friends, etc., when he has made no preparations for his
soul, for his eternal well-being? As death leaves you—so judgment shall find
you! As the judgment finds you—so shall eternity keep you! If death takes
you before you expect it, and are prepared for it, it will be the more terrible
to you; it will cause your countenance to be changed, your thoughts to be
troubled, your loins to be loosed, and your knees to be dashed one against
another. [He who prepares for his body and friends—but neglects his soul, is
like him who prepares for his slave—but neglects his wife.] Oh the hell of
horrors and terrors which attend those souls who have their greatest work to do
when they come to die! Therefore, as you love your souls—and as you would be
happy in death—and everlastingly blessed after death—prepare for death! [When I
was young, says Seneca the heathen, I then studied the art of living well; when
old age came upon me, I then studied the are of dying well.]
See that you build upon
nothing below Christ! See that you have a real interest in Christ; see that you
die daily to sin, to the world, and to your own righteousness. See that
conscience is always waking, speaking, and tender. See that Christ be your Lord
and Master. See that all reckonings stand right between the Lord and your
souls. See that you are fruitful, faithful, and watchful—and then your
dying-day shall be to you as the day of harvest to the farmer, as the
day of deliverance to the prisoner, as the day of coronation to the king,
and as the day of marriage to the bride. Your dying-day shall be a day
of triumph and exaltation, a day of freedom and consolation,
a day of rest and satisfaction! Then the Lord Jesus shall be as
honey in the mouth, ointment in the nostrils, music in the ear, and a jubilee
in the heart.
4. The last use then is
this—If a believer's last day is his best day, then by the rule of contraries—a
wicked man's last day must be his worst day, for he must there face judgment with all the sins of his
life. [A great man wrote thus a little before his death: "Hope and fortune
farewell."] Death shall put an end to all the benefits and comforts that
now you enjoy. Now you must say, "Honors, friends, pleasures, riches,
credit, etc., farewell forever! I shall never have one more happy moment! I
shall never be merry again! My sun is set, my glass is out, my hopes fail, my
heart fails; all offers of grace are past, the Spirit will never more strive
with me, free grace will never more move me, the brazen serpent shall never
more be held forth! Death will be an inlet to judgment, yes, to an eternity of
misery! [Sigismund the emperor and Louis the Eleventh of France straitly
charged all their servants that they should not dare to name that bitter word
'death' when they saw them sick, so dreadful were the very thoughts of death to
them.]
What the voice of God was to
Adam upon eating the forbidden fruit; what the coming of the flood was to the
profane men of the old world; what the waters of the Red Sea were to Pharaoh
and his army; what the fire from heaven was to the captains who came up against
Elijah; what the burning furnace was to those who cast in Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego—the same will be the day of death to profane wicked souls.
Ah, sinners! my prayer for you
shall be, that the Lord would awaken you, and set up a choice light in your
souls, that you may see where you are, and what you are; that he would grant
you to break off your sins by repentance, and give you a saving interest in
himself; so that "for you to live may be Christ, and to die may be gain,"
Phil. 1:21; that in life and death Christ may be advantage to you; and that
death may be the funeral of all your sins and sorrows, and an inlet to all that
joy and pleasure, that blessedness and happiness—which is at God's right hand!