I. The Righteous are best prepaid for death:
and,
II. For what is to follow after Death.
For, However terrible the apprehensions of it may be to Man, as naturally as to other Creatures: Yet, He hath cause to be afraid of it for afarther reason. For He dieth not as the Beast. Death is not only a Law of Nature, but it is the wages of sin. And what we suffer is a part of that vengeance which is due to transgression, and therefore it is a passage to a Judgment that cannot be avoided, and to a Life that shall never end.
Of this Truth there are mighty presumptions: from the great consent of Nations (who have been far from communicating their first notions to each other) from the strength of Evidence, which in Courts of Justice relies on this Belief, from the appeals of oppress’d and injur’d Persons to a future Tribunal, from the stings and remorse of Conscience which they have felt and confest, who have been guilty of heinous Crimes, and been above common Justice: and from the exceeding unwillingness to die, which notorious sinners have exprest, tho in pain and misery to others intolerable. But since God hath in his holy Word revealed the cause of our Mortality: and that there is another Life, and a second Death, as sure as there is a God that judgeth righteously; so surely is the death of the Righteous to be wisht, and a latter end like his. We know, That the grace of God which bringeth Salvation unto all men, hath appeared in the world teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Therefore, since all must appear before his Judgment Seat, to give an account for what they have done in the flesh: What is the hope of the hypocrite, and the unrighteous person, tho he hath gained much, when God taketh away his Soul? How is he prepared to meet his God? The sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed: Tho he may have sung rest often to his Soul, tho he may have eat, and drunk and been exceeding merry, yet when sadness, usual in old age, and the days draw on in which he finds no pleasure, what comfort can he have, if he look back on the time he hath past without God in the World, or if he look forward on an incomprehensible Eternity? All his delights are vanisht away: All for which he denyed God, in his deeds, hath forsaken him: and then to mind him of his former joys, is like to Abraham’s telling the Rich Man in Hell, across the Gulf, Son, Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things. This Admonition nearly resembles one of the Torments of the fallen Spirits, the memory of whose former Blessed Estate inflames their anguish in the place of endless Misery.
But if there be no comfort in looking back, there is none for such a person, when he shall hear the summons, Thou fool, this night shall thy Soul be required of thee? Then whose are all those things for which thou didst hazard thy Eternal Salvation? Then all that the impenitent Soul can wish for, is, That, (contrary to the misgivings of his Heart, and the Word of God) he may be blotted out of the Book of Life, and he may sink into an Abyss of Oblivion.
Who can express the astonishment of a Soul, which being on the confines of this and another World, hovering on its trembling lips, not able to stay, and not daring to depart, is yet sure to perish for ever, if there be a Register in Heaven, if there be a Resurrection from the Dead, if there be a Heaven and a Hell? Surely when all the fruits and profits of Sin are weigh’d against this extreme danger, no Christian will pray, Let me die the death of the wicked.
For, (blessed be God) tho he in the height of Pride, or during his eager pursuit of Power and Wealth, may never think of his latter end, or what is to follow it; yet when by God’s Judgments on the Earth, or by his immediate Visitation, he sees he must die, then without any Hypocrisie, he prays that he may be numbed with the children of God, and that his lot may be among the Saints. Some indeed of the Heathens incourag’d themselves in their wicked ways, by hearing that at their death a few worthy Men among them question’d Providence, and counted Vertue an empty name, because they were overcome when they fought for a reputed good Cause. What would the insultings of sensual Men over Religion be, if so many pious Persons on their death-beds renounc’d as heartily their good Works, and Faith in God, as there have been, and are wicked Christians, who abhor the remembrance of their past deeds of darkness? of their rioting and drunkenness, their chambering and wantonness, their blasphemies, and their enmity to the Cross of Christ? How would the credulity of godly Men be laugh’d at, if as weighty and unsuspected Witnesses, deposed at their last gasp against the Belief of the Life to come, and the Joys of Heaven; as there are undeniable Witnesses who depose against the Lusts of the Flesh, the Lusts of the Eye, and the Pride of Life? assuring us that this world’s Pomp, which so soon passeth away is not worth our utmost endeavours: and that they are truly Wise, who mind the One thing that is necessary, that which shall never be taken from them? How often do we hear ungodly Parents, and others, warn in their last Sicknesses, such as they love, to avoid the reigning sins of the Age, as the road way to Perdition; and exhort them to follow Holiness, as they hope ever to see God: For That will only bring Peace at the last? But they who are Righteous before God, when the time of their laying aside their Tabernacles draws near, they repent not of their past Repentance, nor adjure their Children to abstain from like Faith; neither do they counsel them, not to forego things present and temporal, for those that are not seen, for those that are Eternal: But on the contrary, abounding in hope full of Immortality, they know it is best for them to be dissolved, and to be with Christ: In those last moments (so full of horror to others) to the Righteous their Light increaseth: They have Peace which passeth all Understanding, and such Joys, as are foretasts of the bliss of Eternity. For, Who in that extremity can be animated with so well grounded a Courage, as he who is taught, That being called by the Grace of God to the Knowledge of his Will; being confirmed in it by the operations of the Spirit, he is united by Faith, and participation in his Holy Sacrament, to Christ our Head, and knows therefore, that through Death his Saviour hath destroyed him who had the power of death, and deliver’d them, who through fear of death, were subject to bondage?
What other reasonings of seriousest minds have ever suggested such consolation as the Scripture hath afforded to thousands, in all Ages, whose Love stronger than Death, relying on these precious Promises, hath made them more than Conquerors, through him that loved them? Are the Arguments drawn from Philosophy of equal force? or have they had a like blessed effect? Such as these; That what we suffer is the lot of all Mankind: That it is a Decree that must be obeyed; it is a debt, a tribute due to Nature; an Eternal Sleep. That therefore it is to no purpose to afflict our selves for what cannot be avoided: That since all things must come to an end, as the greatest Persons, so the noblest Cities, the best founded Empires, and even the World it self; therefore Men ought not to wonder that they are so frail, nor murmur because they are so Mortal? How weak are these Arguments in respect of such as we have from Revelation, which sheweth us, That tho for our sins, and our Forefathers, we are subject to Pain, Misery and dissolution, yet we are still under the Eye of God, who by sending his Son to die for our sins, and rise again for our justification, hath declared, That to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit, there is no condemnation, and that nothing shall be able to separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
What also are the duties wherein a Righteous Man is to exercise himself, and in doing of which he desires to end his days? Are they, that are enjoyned by our Holy Faith, such as he needs to be ashamed of, whoever believeth his Soul is Immortal, and that he must appear before a God infinitely Just, Holy and Almighty? Would any Rational Man wish that he may die, denying the Existence, or the Providence of a Supreme Being: Blaspheming his Name, or scoffing at his Worship, dishonouring his own Parents, or murdering his Brethren, defiling their Bed, or injuring their good Name, or their substance; or will any one blush, and have his Heart reproach him in his last Sickness, for not having walkt in Lasciviousness, Lusts, excess of Wine, Revellings, Banquetings and abominable Idolatries? Will his Conscience then upbraid him for not having devour’d the Fatherless, and Widows Houses, which then are to be left behind, to an ungrateful Heir or a stranger? or will he then Pray, May my Soul be with them who have despised the Preachers of Righteousness, and who are undone for ever, if there be a Judge of the Living and the Dead? or rather will any one who is Wise, when his Eyes are to be closed, when his Breath is departing, and he must never more see this Light; then be exceeding glad, if through God’s Grace, his past Life hath been a constant course of Honest dealings towards all Men, (possessing his Vessel in Sanctification, and his Portion with content) and of acts of Humanity and Charity to his Brethren, of Reverence to his Superiors, and unfeigned Devotion to his God? And will he not then Pray, That he may be found not having his own Righteousness which is of the Law, but that which is through Faith of Christ: Having the Saviour of the World to intercede for him, and to offer up the Merit of his infinitely satisfactory Death; and so give up the Ghost, crying, Come Lord Jesus, come quickly? Is not such a Christian best prepar’d to leave this World? Who would not with Balaam wish this end? Who would not die the death of the Righteous?