CHAP. III.] Fear of Death removed. [DEATH. hope of this will compose the thoughts in the nearest approach and apprehension of death: no other principles or resolutions are able to vanquish the terrors of our last enemy, and this happiness was purchased for us by the everlasting treasure of our Saviour's blood. The satisfaction of his sufferings was meritorious, as the merits of his active obedience was satisfying. E CHAP. IV. Reasons why believers die-Sin is abolished by death -Their graces are eminently exercised in the encounter with the last enemy-The natural body incapable of celestial life-The resurrection of the saints delayed till the coming of Christ-Proofs of the resurrection. BEFORE I proceed to the third head, I shall re solve a question, How it comes to pass, since believers are freed from the sting of death, that they die and remain in the state of death for a time. For this there are several reasons 1. By this means all the sinful frailties that cleave to the saints in this life, are abolished. The body is dead because of sin:' and what is more becoming the wise and holy providence of God than that as by sin, man was at first made subject to death, so by death sin dies entirely for ever. Thus as in Sampson's riddle, out of the devourer comes meat; and our worst enemy is conquered by his own weapons. 2. Death is continued to the saints for the more eminent exercise and illustration of their graces, for the glory of God, and in order to their future reward. Faith and love, and patience, are declared in their most powerful operations in our encounter with CHAP. IV.] Why Believers die. [DEATH. death. If every saint were visibly and entirely translated to heaven, after a short course of holy obedience; if the wicked did visibly drop down quick into hell, faith would be resigned to sight here. This would confound the militant state of the church with the triumphant. Therefore now death happens to the good as well as to the wicked. In the next state they shall be separated by a vast gulph, and an amazing difference. Now faith, whatever the kind of death be that a Christian suffers, sees through the thickest clouds of disgrace and misery, to the glorious issue. The illustrious confessor who was crucified with our Saviour, proclaimed his eternal kingdom in the midst of insulting infidels; and our lov to God then appears in its radiance and vigour, when we are ready for the testimony of his truh, and advancing his glory, to suffer a violent death or when it comes in a gentler manner, for it is even then terrible to nature, we are willingly subject to dissolution that we may be united to God in heaven. Our patience never has its perfect work, nor is it truly victorious, till this last enemy be subdued. Death is the seal of our constancy and perseverance; > and the righteous rewarder will crown none but those that strive lawfully, and are complete conquerors. And how wise and sweet is the economy of divine providence in this, that the frailty of our nature should afford us a means of glorifying God, and of entitling ourselves by his most gracious promises to a blessed reward. [CHAP. IV. 3. Our Saviour by his invaluable obedience and sufferings, has procured for believers a celestial divine life, of which the natural body is incapable. The apostle saith, Flesh and blood cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.', The exigencies and decays of the sensitive nature require a continual relief by food and sleep, and other material supplies; but the life above is wholly spiritual, and equal to that of the angels. Therefore till this earthly animal body be reformed and purified, it is incapable of the glory reserved in heaven. This is so absolutely requisite, that those believers who are found alive at the last day, shall in the twinkling of an eye be changed, that they may be qualified for it. Herein the wisdom of God is wonderful, that death which by the covenant of works was the deserved penalty of sin, by the covenant of grace should be the instrument of immortality. As Joseph by a surprising circuit was brought from the prison to the principality; so a believer by the grave ascends to heaven. This the apostle in his divine disputation against infidels, proves in a most convincing manner, Thou fool, that which thou sowest, is not quickened except it die.' As the rotting of the corn in the earth is necessary to its reviving and springing up so we must die, and the image of the earthly Adam be abolished, that we may be transformed into the image of the heavenly one. As to the other part of the question, Why the saints remain in the state of death for a time; there CHAP. IV.] Why Believers die. [DEATH. is a clear answer. delayed till Christ's coming to judgment, partly for the glory of his appearance. For what an admirable sight will it be, that the saints of all ages shall at once arise glorified and immortalized, to attend upon our Saviour in the last act of his legal office, and then to make a triumphant entry with him into heaven. And partly, that the established order of providence may not be disturbed. For the changing of our nature into glory, in a sudden and inexplicable manner, cannot be without miraculous power; and if every believer presently after death, were in his glorified body translated to heaven, the world would be always filled with miracles, which were to ceaseafter the sufficient confirmation of the gospel by them. But how long soever the interval be to the resurrection, it shall be with them that sleep in Jesus as it is with those that awake out of a quiet natural sleep, to whom the longest night seems but as a moment. So when the saints first awake from death, in the great morning of the world, a thousand years will seem no more to them than one day. The resurrection of the saints is I now come to prove the third thing, That our Saviour will abolish the dominion of death over the saints. While the bodies of the saints remain in the grave, they seem to be absolutely under the power of death. The world is a Golgotha, filled with the monuments of its victories; and it may be said to this our last |