To design of the
ensuing Discourse is to declare some part of that
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ which is revealed in
the Scripture, and proposed as the principal object of
our faith, love, delight, and admiration. But, alas!
after our utmost and most diligent inquiries, we must
say, How little a portion is it of him that we can
understand! His glory is incomprehensible, and his
praises are unutterable. Some things an illuminated
mind may conceive of it; but what we can express in
comparison of what it is in itself, is even less than
nothing. But as for those who have forsaken the only
true guide herein, endeavouring to be wise above what
is written, and to raise their contemplations by fancy
and imagination above Scripture revelation [as
many have done], they have darkened counsel
without knowledge, uttering things which they
understand not, which have no substance or spiritual
food of faith in them.
Howbeit, that real
view which we may have of Christ and his glory in this
world by faith, however weak and obscure that
knowledge which we may attain of them by divine
revelation, is inexpressibly to be preferred
above all other wisdom, understanding, or knowledge
whatever. So it is declared by him who will be
acknowledged a competent judge in these things.
"Yea, doubtless," saith he, "I count all
these things but loss, for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." [Phil
3:8] He who does not so has no part in
him.
The revelation made of
Christ in the blessed gospel is far more excellent,
more glorious, and more filled with rays of divine
wisdom and goodness, than the whole creation and the
just comprehension of it, if attainable, can contain
or afford. Without the knowledge hereof, the mind of
man, however priding itself in other inventions and
discoveries, is wrapped up in darkness and
confusion.
This, therefore,
deserves the severest of our thoughts, the best of our
meditations, and our utmost diligence in them. For if
our future blessedness shall consist in being where he
is, and beholding of his glory, what better
preparation can there be for it than in a constant
preview contemplation of that glory in the revelation
that is made in the Gospel, unto this very end, that
by a view of it we may be gradually transformed into
the same glory?
I shall not,
therefore, use any apology for the publishing of the
ensuing Meditations, intended first for the exercise
of my own mind, and then for the edification of a
private congregation; which is like to be the last
service I shall do them in that kind. Some may, by the
consideration of them, be called to attend unto the
same duty with more diligence than formerly, and
receive directions for the discharge of it; and some
may be provoked to communicate their greater light and
knowledge unto the good of many. And that which I
design farther in the present Discourse, is to give a
brief account of the necessity and use, in life and
death, of the duty exhorted unto.
Particular motives
unto the diligent discharge of this duty will be
pressed in the Discourse itself. Here some things more
general only shall be premised. For all persons not
immersed in sensual pleasures, not overdrenched
in the love of this world and present things,
who have any generous or noble thought about their own
nature, being, and end, are under the highest
obligation to retake themselves unto this
contemplation of Christ and his glory. Without this,
they shall never attain true rest or satisfaction in
their own minds. He it is alone in whom the race of
mankind may boast and glory, on whom all its
felicities do depend. For,
I. He it is in
whom our nature, which was debased as low as hell by
apostasy from God, is exalted above the whole
creation. Our nature, in the original constitution of
it, in the persons of our first parents, was crowned
with honour and dignity. The image of God, wherein it
was made, and the dominion over the lower world
wherewith it was intrusted, made it the seat of
excellence, of beauty, and of glory. But of them all
it was at once divested and made naked by sin, and
laid grovelling in the dust from whence it was taken.
"Dust thou are, and to dust thou shalt return,"
[Gen 3:19b] was its righteous doom. And all
its internal faculties were invaded by deformed lusts,
everything that might render the whole unlike
unto God, whose image it had lose. Hence it became the
contempt of angels, the dominion of Satan; who, being
the enemy of the whole creation, never had any thing
or place to reign in but the debased nature of man.
Nothing was now more vile and base; its glory was
utterly departed. It had both lost its peculiar
nearness unto God, which was its honour, and was
fallen into the greatest distance from him of all
creatures, the devils only excepted; which was its
ignominy and shame. And in this state, as unto
anything in itself, it was left to perish
eternally.
In this condition
lost, poor, base, yea, cursed the Lord
Christ, the Son of God, found our nature. And hereon,
in infinite condescension and compassion, sanctifying
a portion of it unto himself, he took it to be his
own, in a holy, ineffable subsistence, in his own
person. And herein again the same nature, so depressed
into the utmost misery, is exalted above the whole
creation of God.
For in that very
nature, God has "set him at his own right hand in
the heavenly places, far above all principality, and
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is
named, not only in this world, but also in that which
is to come." This is that which is so
celebrated by the Psalmist, with the highest
admiration, [Ps. 8:3-8].
This is the greatest
privilege we have among all our fellow-creatures,
this we may glory in, and value ourselves upon.
Those who engage this nature in the service of sensual
lusts and pleasures, who think that its felicity and
utmost capacities consist in their satisfaction, with
the accomplishment of other earthly, temporal desires,
are satisfied with it in its state of apostasy
from God; but those who have received the light of
faith and grace, so as rightly to understand the being
and end of that nature whereof they are partakers,
cannot but rejoice in its deliverance from the utmost
debasement, into that glorious exaltation which it has
received in the person of Christ. And this must needs
make thoughts of him full of refreshment unto their
souls. Let us take care of our persons, the
glory of our nature is safe in him. For,
II. In him the
relation of our nature unto God is eternally secured.
We were created in a covenant relation unto God. Our
nature was related unto him in a way of friendship, of
likeness, and complacency. But the bond of this
relation and union was quickly broken, by our apostasy
from him. Hereon our whole nature became to be at the
utmost moral distance from God, and enmity against
him; which is the depth of misery. But God, in
infinite wisdom and grace, did design once more to
recover it, and take it again near unto himself. And
he would do it in such a way as should render it
utterly impossible that there would ever be a
separation between him and it any more. Heaven and
earth may pass away, but there shall never be a
dissolution of the union between God and our nature
any more. He did it, therefore, by assuming it into a
substantial union with himself, in the person of the
Son. Hereby the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in it
bodily, or substantially, and eternally. Hereby is its
relation unto God eternally secured. And among all the
mysterious excellencies which relate hereunto, there
are two which continually present themselves unto our
consideration.
1. That this nature of
ours is capable of this glorious exaltation and
subsistence in God. No creature could conceive how
omnipotent wisdom, power, and goodness, could actuate
themselves unto the production of this effect. The
mystery hereof is the object of the admiration of
angels, and will be so of the whole church, unto all
eternity. What is revealed concerning the glory, way,
and manner of it, in the Scripture, I have declared in
my treatise concerning the Mystery of Godliness, or
the Person of Christ. What mind can conceive, what
tongue can express, who can sufficiently admire, the
wisdom, goodness, and condescension of God herein? And
whereas he has proposed unto us this glorious object
of our faith and meditation, how vile and foolish are
we, if we spend our thoughts about other things in a
neglect of it!
2. This is also an
ineffable pledge of the love of God unto our nature.
For although he will not take it in any other
instance, save that of the man Christ Jesus, into this
relation with himself, by virtue of personal union,
yet therein he has given a glorious pledge of his love
unto, and valuation of, that nature. For "verily he
took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on
him the seed of Abraham." [Heb 2:16]. And
this kindness extends unto our persons, as participant
of that nature. For he designed this glory unto the
man Christ Jesus, that might be the firstborn of the
new creation, that we might be made conformable unto
him according to our measure; and as the members of
that body, whereof he is the head, we are participant
in this glory.
III. It is he
in whom our nature has been carried successfully and
victoriously through all the oppositions that it is
liable unto, and even death itself. But the glory
hereof I shall speak unto distinctly in its proper
place, which follows, and therefore shall here pass it
by.
IV. He it is
who in himself has given us a pledge of the capacity
of our nature to inhabit those blessed regions of
light, which are far above these visible heavens. Here
we dwell in tabernacles of clay, that are "crushed
before the moth," such as cannot be raised,
so as to abide one foot-breadth above the earth we
tread upon. The heavenly luminaries which we can
behold appear too great and glorious for our
cohabitation. We are as grasshoppers in our own eyes,
in comparison of those gigantic beings; and they seem
to dwell in places which would immediately swallow up
and extinguish our natures. How, then, shall we
entertain an apprehension of being carried and exalted
above them all? to have an everlasting subsistence in
places incomprehensibly more glorious than the orbs
wherein they reside? What capacity is there in our
nature of such a habitation? But hereof the Lord
Christ has given us a pledge in himself. Our nature in
him is passed through these visible heavens, and is
exalted far above them. Its eternal habitation is in
the blessed regions of light and glory; and he has
promised that where he is, there we shall be, and that
for ever.
Other encouragements
there are innumerable to stir us up unto diligence in
the discharge of the duty here proposed,
namely, a continual contemplation of the glory
of Christ, in his person, office, and grace. Some of
them, the principal of them which I have any
acquaintance with, are represented in the ensuing
Discourse. I shall therefore here add the peculiar
advantage which we may obtain in the diligent
discharge of this duty; which is, that it will
carry us cheerfully, comfortably, and victoriously
through life and death, and all that we have to
conflict withal in either of then.
And let it be
remembered, that I do here suppose what is written on
this subject in the ensuing Discourse as being
designed to prepare the minds of the readers for the
due improvement of it. As unto this present life, it
is well known what it is unto the most of them who
concern themselves in these things. Temptations,
afflictions changes, sorrows, dangers, fears,
sickness, and pains, do fill up no small part of it.
And on the other hand, all our earthly relishes,
refreshments, and comfort, are uncertain, transitory,
and unsatisfactory; all things of each sort being
embittered by the remainders of sin. Hence everything
wherein we are concerned has the root of trouble and
sorrow in it. Some labour under wants, poverty, and
straits all their days; and some have very few hours
free from pains and sickness. And all these things,
with others of an alike nature, are heightened at
present be the calamitous season wherein our lot is
fallen. All things almost in situations are filled
with confusions, disorders, dangers, distresses, and
troubles; wars and rumours of wars do abound, with
tokens of farther approaching judgements; distress of
nations, with perplexity, mens hearts failing
them for fear, and for looking after those things
which are coming on the earth. There is in many places
"no peace unto him that goes out, nor to him that
cometh in, but great vexations are on the
inhabitants of the world: nation is destroyed of
nation, and city of city; for God does vex them with
all adversity." [2 Chron. 15: 5,6.] And in
the meantime, vexation with the ungodly deeds of
wicked men does greatly further the troubles of life;
the sufferings of many also for the testimony of their
consciences are deplorable, with the divisions and
animosities that abound amongst all sorts of
Christians.
But the shortness, the
vanity, the miseries of human life, have been the
subject of the complaints of all sort of considering
persons, heathens as well as Christians; nor is it my
present business to insist upon them. My inquire is
only after the relief which we may obtain against all
these evils, that we faint not under them, that we may
have the victory over them.
This in general is
declared by the apostle [2 Cor. 4,] "We are
troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are
perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed."
But for this cause "we faint not; but though our
outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day
by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a
moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the
things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but
the things which are not seen see
eternal."
Our beholding by faith
things that are not seen, things spiritual and
eternal, will alienate all our afflictions,
make their burden light, and preserve our souls from
fainting under them. Of these things the glory of
Christ, whereof we treat, is the principal, and in due
sense comprehensive of them all. For we behold the
glory of God himself "in the face of Jesus
Christ." He that can at all times retreat unto the
contemplation of this glory, will be carried above the
perplexing prevailing sense of any of these evils, of
a confluence of them all. "Crux nil sentit in
nervo, dum animus est in coelo." [Free
Translation: "One does not feel the pain of the cross
when his mind is on heavenly things."]
It is a woeful kind of
life, when men scramble for poor perishing reliefs in
their distresses. This is the universal remedy and
cure, the only balsam for all our diseases.
Whatever presseth, urgeth, perplexeth, if we can but
retreat in our minds unto a view of this glory, and a
due consideration of our own interest therein, comfort
and supportment will be administered unto us. Wicked
men, in their distress [which sometimes overtake
even them also], are like "a troubled sea, that
cannot rest." Others are heartless, and despond,
not without secret repinings at the wise
disposals of Divine Providence, especially when thee
look on the better condition [as they suppose]
of others. And the best of us all are apt to wax faint
and weary when these things press upon us in an
unusual manner, or under their long continuance,
without a prospect of relief. This is the stronghold
which such prisoners of hope are to turn themselves
unto. In this contemplation of the glory of
Christ they will find rest unto their own souls.
For,
1. It will herein, and
in the discharge of this duty, be made evident how
slight and inconsiderable all these things are from
whence our troubles and distresses do arise. For they
all grow on this root of an over-valuation of
temporal things. And unless we can arrive unto a fixed
judgement that all things here below are transitory
and perishing, reaching only unto the outward man, or
the body, [perhaps unto the killing of it],
that the best of them have nothing that is
truly substantial or abiding in them, that
there are other things, wherein we have an assured
interest, that are incomparably better than they, and
above them, it is impossible but that we must
spend our lives in fears, sorrows, and distractions.
One real view of the glory of Christ, and of our own
concernment therein, will give us a full relief in
this matter. For what are all the things of this life?
What is the good or evil of them in comparison of an
interest in this transcendent glory? When we have due
apprehensions hereof, when our minds are
possessed with thoughts of it, when our
affections reach out after its enjoyments,
let pain, and sickness, and sorrows, and fears,
and dangers, and death, say what they will. we shall
have in readiness wherewith to combat with them and
overcome them; and that on this consideration, that
they are all outward, transitory, and passing away,
whereas our minds are fixed on those things which are
eternal, and filled with incomprehensible
glory.
2. The minds of men
are apt by their troubles to be cast into disorder, to
be tossed up and down, and disquieted with various
affections and passions. So the Psalmist found it in
himself in the time of his distress; whence he calls
himself unto that account, "Why art thou cast down,
O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me?"
[Psa 42:5] And, indeed, the mind on all such
occasions is its own greatest troubler. It is apt to
let loose its passions of fear and sorrow, which act
themselves in innumerable perplexing thoughts, until
it is carried utterly out of its own power. But in
this state a due contemplation of the glory of
Christ will restore and compose the mind, bring it
into a sedate, quiet frame, wherein faith will be able
to say unto the winds and waves of distempered
passions, "Peace, be still;" [Mk
4:39] and they shall obey it.
3. It is the way and
means of conveying a sense of Gods love unto our
souls; which is that alone where ultimately we find
rest in the midst of all the troubles of this life; as
the apostle declares, [Rom. 5:2-5.] It is the
Spirit of God who alone communicates a sense of this
love unto our souls; it is "shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost." Howbeit, there
are ways and means to be used on our part, whereby we
may be disposed and made meet to receive these
communications of divine love. Among these the
principal is the contemplation of the glory of
Christ insisted on, and of God the Father in him. It
is the season, it is the way and means, at which and
whereby the Holy Ghost will give a sense of the love
of God unto us, causing us thereon to "rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory." This will be
made evident in the ensuing Discourse. This will lift
the minds and hearts of believers above all the
troubles of this life, and is the sovereign antidote
that will expel all the poison that is in them; which
otherwise might perplex and enslave their
souls.
I have but touched on
these things, as designing to enlarge somewhat on that
which does ensue. And this is the advantage we may
have in the discharge of this duty with respect unto
death itself: It is the assiduous contemplation
of the glory of Christ which will carry us cheerfully
and comfortably into it, and through it. My principal
work having been now for a long season to die daily,
as living in a continual expectation of my
dissolution, I shall on this occasion acquaint the
reader with some few of my thoughts and reliefs with
reference unto death itself.
There are sundry
things required of us, that we may be able to
encounter death cheerfully, constantly, and
victoriously. For want of these, or some of them, I
have known gracious souls who have lived in a kind of
bondage for fear of death all their days. We know not
how God will manage any of our minds and souls in that
season, in that trial; for he acts towards us in all
such things in a way of sovereignty. But these are the
things which he requireth of us in way of duty:
First, Peculiar
actings of faith to resign and commit our departing
souls into the hand of him who is able to receive
them, to keep and preserve them, as also to dispose of
them into a state of rest and blessedness, are
required of us. The soul is now parting with all
things here below, and that for ever. None of all the
things which it has seen, heard, or enjoyed, be it
outward senses, can be prevailed with to stay with it
one hour, or to take one step with it in the voyage
wherein it is engaged. It must alone by itself launch
into eternity. It is entering an invisible world,
which it knows no more of than it has received by
faith. None has come from the dead to inform us of the
state of the other world; yea, God seems on purpose so
to conceal it from us, that we should have no evidence
of it, at least as unto the manner of things in it,
but what is given unto faith By divine revelation.
Hence those who died and were raised again from the
dead unto any continuance among men, as Lazarus,
probably knew nothing of the invisible state. Their
souls were preferred by the power of God in their
being, but bound up as unto present operations. This
made a great emperor cry out, on the approach of
death, "O animula, tremula, vagula, blandula; quae
nunc abibis in loca horrida, squalida",
&c. "O poor, trembling, wandering soul,
into what places of darkness and defilement art
thou going?"
How is it like to be
after the few moments which, under the pangs of death,
we hare to continue in this world? Is it an
annihilation that lies at the door? Is death the
destruction of our whole being, so as that after it we
shall be no more? So some would have the state of
things to be. Is it a state of subsistence in a
wandering condition, up and down the world, under the
influence of other more powerfull spirits that rule in
the air, visiting tombs and solitary places, and
sometimes making appearances of themselves by the
impressions of those more powerful spirits; as some
imagine from the story concerning Samuel and the witch
of Endor, and as it is commonly received in the
Papacy, out of a compliance with their imagination of
purgatory? Or is it a state of universal misery and
woe? A state incapable of comfort or joy? Let them
pretend what they please, who can understand no
comfort or joy in this life but what they receive by
their senses; they can look for nothing else.
And whatever be the state of this invisible world, the
soul can undertake nothing of its own conduct after
its departure from the body. It knows that it must be
absolutely at the disposal of another.
Wherefore no
man can comfortably venture on and into this
condition, but in the exercise of that faith which
enables him to resign and give up his departing soul
into the hand of God, who alone is able to receive it,
and to dispose it into a condition of rest and
blessedness. So speaks the apostle, "I am not
ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him again that day." [2Tim
1:12]
Herein, as in all
other graces, is our Lord Jesus Christ our great
example. He resigned his departing spirit into the
hands of his Father, to be owned and preserved by him,
in its state of separation: "Father, into thy hinds
I commend my spirit," [Luke 23:46]; as did
the Psalmist, his type, in an alike condition, Ps.
31:5. But the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ herein,
the object and exercise of it, what he believed
and trusted unto in this resignation of his spirit
into the hand of God, is at large expressed in
the 16th Psalm. "I have," said he,
"set the Lord always before me: because he is at my
right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart
is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall
rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy
presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand
there are pleasures for evermore." He left his
soul in the hand of God, in full assurance that it
should suffer no evil in its state of separation, but
should be brought again with his body into a blessed
resurrection and eternal glory. So Stephen resigned
his soul, departing under violence, into the hands of
Christ himself. When he died he said, "Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit."
This is the last
victorious act of faith, wherein its conquest over its
last enemy death itself does consist. Herein the soul
says in and unto itself, "Thou art now taking leave
of time unto eternity; all things about thee are
departing as shades, and will immediately disappear.
The things which thou art entering into are yet
invisible; such as eye has not seen, nor ear
heard, nor will they enter into the heart of man fully
to conceive. Now, therefore, with quietness and
confidence give up thyself unto the sovereign power,
grace, truth, and faithfulness of God, and thou shalt
find assured rest and peace."
But Jesus Christ it is
who does immediately receive the souls of them who
believe in him. So we see in the instance of Stephen.
And what can be a greater encouragement to reign them
into his hands, than a daily contemplation of
his glory, in his person, his power, his exaltation,
his office, and grace? Who that believes in him, that
belongs unto him, can fear to commit his departing
spirit unto his love, power, and care? Even we also
shall hereby in our dying moments see by faith heaven
opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God
ready to receive us. This, added unto the love which
all believers have unto the Lord Jesus, which is
inflamed by contemplation of his glory, and
their desires to be with him where he is, will
strengthen and confine our minds in the resignation of
our departing souls into his hand.
Secondly, It is
required in us, unto the same end, that we be ready
and willing to part with the flesh, wherewith we are
clothed, with all things that are woeful and desirable
thereunto. The alliance, the relation, the friendship,
the union that are between the soul and the body, are
the greatest, the nearest, the firmest that are or can
be among mere created beings. There is nothing like
it, nothing equal unto it. The union of three
persons in the one single divine nature, and the union
of two natures in one person of Christ, are infinite,
ineffable, and exempted from all comparison. But among
created beings, the union of these two essential parts
of the same nature in one person is most excellent.
Nor is anything equal to it, or like it, found in any
other creatures. Those who among them have most of
life have either no body, as angels; or no souls but
what perish with them, as all brute creatures below.
Angels, being pure,
immaterial spirits, have nothing in them, nothing
belonging unto their essence, that can die. Beasts
have nothing in them that can live when their bodies
die. The soul of a beast cannot be preserved in a
separate condition, no, not by an act of almighty
power; for it is not, and that which is not cannot
live. It is nothing but the body itself in an act of
its material powers.
Only the nature of
man, in all the works of God, is capable of this
convulsion. The essential parts of it are separable by
death, the one continuing to exist and act its
especial powers in a separate state or condition. The
powers of the whole entire nature, acting in soul and
body in conjunction, are all scattered and lost by
death. But the powers of one essential part of the
same nature that is, of the soul are
preserved after death in a more perfect acting and
exercise than before. This is peculiar unto human
nature, as a mean partaking of heaven and earth,
of the perfection of angels above, and of the
imperfection of the beasts below. Only there is this
difference in these things: Our participation
of the heavenly, spiritual perfections of the
angelical nature is for eternity; our participation of
the imperfections of the animate creatures here below
is but for a season. For God hath designed our bodies
unto such a glorious refinement at the resurrection,
as that they shall have no more alliance unto that
brutish nature which perisheth forever; for we shall
be "isangeloi" like unto angels, or
equal to them. Our bodies shall no more be capable of
those acts and operations which are now common to us
with other living creatures here below.
This is the
pre-eminence of the nature of man, as the wise man
declares. For unto that objection of atheistical
Epicureans, "As the one dieth, so dieth the other;
yea, they have all one breath: so that a man hath no
pre-eminence above a beast. All go unto one place: all
are of the dust, and all turn to the dust again,"
[Eccles. 3:19,20] he grants that, as
unto their bodies, it is for a season in them we have
a present participation of their nature; but, says he,
here lies the difference, "Who knows the spirit of
a man that goes upward, and the spirit of the
beast that goes downward to the earth?"
[Eccles. 3:21].
Unless we know this,
unless we consider the different state of the spirit
of men and beasts, we cannot be delivered from this
atheism; but the thoughts hereof will set us at
liberty from it. They die in like manner, and their
bodies go equally to the dust for a season; but the
beast hath no spirit, no soul, but what dies with the
body and goes to the dust. If they had, their bodies
also must be raised again unto a conjunction with
them; otherwise, death would produce a new race of
creatures unto eternity. But man hath an immortal
soul, saith he, a heavenly spirit, which, when the
body goes in the dust for a season, ascends to heaven
[where the guilt of sin and the curse of the law
interpose not], from whence it is there to exist
and to act all its native powers in a state of
blessedness.
But, as I said, by
reason of this peculiar intimate union and relation
between the soul and body, there is in the whole
nature a fixed aversion from a dissolution. The soul
and body are naturally and necessarily unwilling to
fall into a state of separation, wherein the one shall
cease to be what it was, and the other knows not
clearly how it shall subsist. The body claspeth about
the soul, and the soul receiveth strange impressions
from its embraces; the entire nature, existing in the
union of them both, being unalterably averse unto a
dissolution.
Wherefore, unless we
can overcome this inclination, we can never die
comfortably or cheerfully. We would, indeed, rather
choose to be "clothed upon, that mortality might
be swallowed up of life," that the clothing
of glory might come on our whole nature, soul and
body, without dissolution. But if this may not be, yet
then do believers so conquer this inclination by faith
and views of the glory of Christ, as to attain a
desire of this dissolution. So the apostle testifies
of himself, "I have a desire to depart, and to be
with Christ, which is far better" than to abide
here, [Phil. 1:23]. Saith he, "Ten
epitumian echoon", not an
ordinary desire, not that which worketh in me now and
then; but a constant, habitual inclination, working in
vehement acts and desires. And what does he so desire?
It is "analusai", "to
depart," say we, out of this body, from this
tabernacle, to leave it for a season. But it is such a
departure as consists in the dissolution of the
present state of his being, that it should not be what
it is. But how is it possible that a man should attain
such an inclination unto, such a readiness for, such a
vehement desire of, a dissolution? It is from a view
by faith of Christ and his glory, whence the soul is
satisfied that to be with him is incomparably better
than in its present state and condition.
He, therefore, that
would die comfortably, must be able to say within
himself and to himself, "Die, then, thou frail and
sinful flesh: dust thou art, and unto dust thou
shalt return. I yield thee up unto the righteous
doom of the Holy One. Yet herein also I give thee into
the hand of the great Refiner, who will hide thee in
thy grave, and by thy consumption purify thee from all
thy corruption and disposition to evil. And otherwise
this will not be. After a long sincere endeavour for
the mortification of all sin, I find it will never be
absolutely perfect, but by this reduction into the
dust. Thou shalt no more be a residence for the least
remnant of sin unto eternity, nor any clog unto my
soul in its acting on God. Rest therefore in hope; for
God, in his appointed season, when he shall have a
desire unto the work of his hands, will call unto
thee, and thou shalt answer him out of the dust. Then
shall he, by an act of big almighty power, not only
restore thee unto thy pristine glory, as at the first
creation, when thou wast the pure workmanship of his
hands, but enrich and adorn thee with inconceivable
privileges and advantages. Be not, then, afraid; away
with all reluctance. Go into the dust,
rest in hope; for thou shalt stand in thy lot at
the end of the days." [Dan
12:13].
That which will enable
us hereunto, in an eminent manner, is that view and
consideration of the glory of Christ which is the
object of the ensuing Meditation. For He who is now
possessed of all that glory underwent this dissolution
of nature as truly and really as ever we shall
do.
Thirdly, There
is required hereunto a readiness to comply with the
times and seasons wherein God would have us depart and
leave this world. Many think they shall be willing to
die when their time is come; but they have many
reasons, as they suppose, to desire that it may not
yet be, which, for the most part, arise merely
from fear and aversion of death. Some desire to live
that they may see more of that glorious world of God
for his church, which they believe he will accomplish.
So Moses prayed that he might not die in the
wilderness, but go over Jordan, and see the good land,
and that goodly mountain and Lebanon, the seat of the
church, and of the worship of God; which yet God
thought meet to deny unto him. And this denial of the
request of Moses, made on the highest consideration
possible, is instructive unto all in the like
case.
Others
may judge themselves to have some work to do in the
world, wherein
they suppose that the glory of God and the good of the
church are concerned; and therefore would be spared
for a season. Paul knew not clearly whether it were
not best for him to abide a while longer in the flesh
on this account; and David often deprecates the
present season of death because of the work which he
had to do for God in the world. Others rise no higher
than their own private interests or concerns with
respect unto their persons, their families, their
relations, and goods in this world. They would see
these things in a better or more settled condition
before they die, and then they shall be most willing
so to do.
But it is the love of
life that lies at the bottom of all these desires in
men; which of itself will never forsake them. But no
man can die cheerfully or comfortably who lives not in
a constant resignation of the time and season of his
death unto the will of God, as well as himself with
respect unto death itself. Our times are in his hand,
at his sovereign disposal; and his will in all things
must be complied withal. Without this resolution,
without this resignation, no man can enjoy the least
solid peace in this world.
Fourthly, As
the times and seasons, so the ways and means of the
approaches of death have especial trials; which,
unless we are prepared for them, will keep us under
bondage, with the fear of death itself. Long, wasting,
wearing consumption, burning fevers, strong pains of
the stone, or the lice from within; or sword, fire,
tortures, with shame and reproach from without, may be
in the way of the access of death unto us. Some who
have been wholly freed from all fears of death, as a
dissolution of nature, who have looked on it as
amiable and desirable in itself, have yet had great
exercise in their minds about these ways of its
approach: they have earnestly desired that this
peculiar bitterness of the cup might be taken away. To
get above all perplexities on the account of these
things, is part of our wisdom in dying daily.
And we are to have
always in a readiness those graces and duties which
are necessary thereunto. Such are a constant
resignation of ourselves, in all events, unto the
sovereign will, pleasure, and disposal of God. "May
he not do what he will with his own?"
[Matt 20:15]. Is it not right and meet it
should be so? Is not his will in all things infinitely
holy, wise, just, and good? Does he not know what is
best for us, and what conduceth most unto his own
glory? Does not he alone do so? So is it to live in
the exercise of faith, that if God calls us unto any
of those things which are peculiarly dreadful unto our
natures, he will give us such supplies of spirited
strength and patience as shall enable us to undergo
them, if not with ease and joy, yet with peace and
quietness beyond our expectation.
Multitudes have had
experience that those things which, at a distance,
have had an aspect of overwhelming dread, have been
far from unsupportable in their approach, when
strength has been received from above to encounter
with them. And, moreover, it is in this case required
that we be frequent and steady in comparing these
things with those which are eternal both as unto the
misery which we are freed from and that blessedness
which is prepared for us. But I shall proceed no
farther with these particulars.
There is none of all
the things we have insisted on neither the
resignation of a departing soul into the hand of God,
nor a willingness to lay down this flesh in the dust,
nor a readiness to comply with the will of God, as to
the times and sons, or the way and manner of the
approach of death that can be attained unto,
without a prospect of that glory that shall give us a
new state far more excellent than what we here leave
or depart from. This we cannot have, whatever we
pretend, unless we have some present views of the
glory of Christ. An apprehension of the future
manifestation of it in heaven will not relieve us, if
here we know not what it is, and wherein it does
consist, if we have not some previous discovery
of it in this life. This is that which will make all
things easy and pleasant unto us, even death itself,
as it is a means to bring us unto its full
enjoyment.
Other great and
glorious advantages, which may be obtained in the
diligent discharge of the duty here proposed, might be
insisted on, but that the things themselves discoursed
of will evidently discover and direct us unto the
spring and reasons of them; besides, weakness,
weariness, and the near approaches of death do call me
off from any farther labour in this kind.
[Wherever a
Scripture verse varies from the version you are using,
Dr. Owen will be understood as using a free
translation. Ed.]