in âpitome Canst thou O Gracious Soul give another fully to underââand how incomparably sweet it is to have Christ here with thee When he gives to thee but a look through the Lattess when he meets ââee at an Ordinance when he affords thee a short Visit and away ââre I am thou wilt want words significant and large enough And if ãâã short an enjoyment be so delicious as all the world is nothing to ãâã what then will it be for thee to be with him If David could say âsal 23. Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will fear âo evil for thou art with me Thou mayest well promise thy self thou ââalt want no good when thou comest to be with him Know O âaint the world will be well mended with thee For as you have it ân the 16 th Psalm In his presence there is fulness of joy and at his right âand pleasures for evermore Three things may here well engage our Meditations First The Saints when once gone from this dirty and troubleâome World shall be with Christ in the same place Now they are in âome sense parted and at a distance notwithstanding that Spiritual Mystical and Intimate Union which is between them 2 Cor. 5 6. While we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. Now we ââe him not We are upon earth he is in Heaven and the Heavens âust contain him for a time how long we know not but at last âhey shall be together in the same place One Earth could not long hold them therefore hâ said to his Disciples Iohn 16.7 It is expâdient for you that I go away And so it was that he might prepare place for them and that he might send the Comforter to them and that he might make Intercession for them As for his peoples sake he came from Heaven to Earth to teach them to fight for thâm to dyâ for them to conquer their Enemies to pay their Debts to makâ their Peace to work for them an Everlasting Righteousness and ãâã purchase for them an Everlasting Happiness so for their sakes he râturned from Earth to Heaven that he might keep the peace he haâ made and give out to them of his fulness and purchased blessingâ as in his Infinite Wisdom he seeâ their Necessities and Interest require And when their work is finished and they prepared they shall folloâ him they shall away to Heaven also and that shall hold both hiâ and them to all Eternity This he gave them the assurance of Ioh. 14. â I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye mââ be also This he also declared to his Father to be his Will concerninâ them Iohn 17. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given mâ be with me where I am for thou lovedst me before the foundatiââ of the world Which words of his plainly evidence his not loving distance between him and them longer than needs and how muââ his heart is set for the closest and fullest Communion It was his joy that he went to the Father and should be with the Father and ãâã would have his people with him q. d. I would be with thee and would have them with me let us be all together then my joy wiââ be full and so will theirs too Here the Lord stands at their righâ hand therefore they shall never be moved Psalm 16.8 And afteâ Death they shall sit at his right hand and therefore they shall be satisfied Then they shall be by him and be daily his delight rejoicinâ always before him 2 dly They shall so be with him as to be the joyful spectators of his Gloâry Men are very much taken with sights for the Eye affects the heart and fixing upon great and amiable Objects conveys to the Soul a greaâ deal of pleasure How doth the Eye of Faith by looking within the Veil and beholding him that is invisible revive the spirits and raise the Saint out of his dumps 1 Peter 1.8 Whom having not seeâ ye love in whom tho now ye see him not yet beliving ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory And if believing do so raise and ravish them now in the midst of so many things to afflict and depress them what will the heavenly vision do when they shall see him as he is Alas the sights of Faith here are weak and imperfect they are but ãâã in a glass darkly we sâe but the back parts the most sanctified âe can at present bear no more Thou canst not see my face said ââd to Moses Exod. 33.20 that is not a thing to be done Moses ââuld not do that tho he was a most holy Person and had been âaken up into a familiar Converse with God When our Lord Jesus ãâã his state of Humiliation and Abasement did let forth but one ââam of his Glory it struck the Soldiers down to the ground ââhn 18.6 As soon as he had said unto them I am he they went backâârd and fell to the ground they could not stand before such an ââmanation but in Heaven the Saints shall see and be enabled to âar the sight yea to rejoyce in it the glorified Eye shall be so âârengthened as to fix upon that most glorious Object Psalm 17. â shall behold thy face in righteousness not thy back Parts but thy ââce there they shall see him as he is That Prayer of Moses ââew me thy glory shall then be fulfilled they shall not only ââe his Goodness that passeth before them now the whole Earth is ââl of it but also they shall see his Glory that shall be manifested ât to the dazzling but delighting of their Eye This was part of âârist's Will which shall not fail of its accomplishment Iohn 17. ââther I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am ââat they may behold my glory which thou hast given me They love ãâã look and I love they should do so therefore let them look ââeir fill Thirdly The Saints shall be with Christ not only as Spectators of ââs Glory but as Blessed sharers and comportioners with him in Glory âhough much of their Happiness consist in sight the Heavenly Visiââ being beatifical yet that is not the whole of it for there shall be âuition as well as Vision the same God who doth here implant his ârace in them will hereafter put a Glory upon them Psalm 84. âhe Lord God is a sun and shield he will give grace and glory each in the âost proper place and season for it Grace on Earth and Glory in âeaven Grace in their Minority Glory when they come to their ââll Age and Stature Our Dear Lord Jesus was pleased to come ârom Heaven to Earth and from the Bosom of his Father to a âabernacling among men and while here he was at vast cost and âharges as to purchase a People for himself so all good for that Peoâle which he doth
send for me home ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I have an ardent and flaming desire to depart I stand upââ Tiptoes and am reaching out unto that state Never did Boy School more long to break up and go to his Mother than I do to ãâã to my God and Saviour Never did Bride or Bridegroom more ãâã for their Wedding-day than I do for my Dying-day These woâ in the Original do as Learned Zanchy observes signify more ãâã barely to desire for simply to desire may amount to no more than ãâã a sudden Motâon a transient Flash a momentary Passion which ãâã Iona's Gourd starts up on a sudden and doth as quickly vanâ Whereas when the Apostle saith Having a desire he doth plaiâ intimate to us both the vehemency and permanency of the thiâ that his Soul stood that way it was immovably set for a Departâââ His desire was such as had a great strength and ardour in it ãâã which would last and not abate any thing until it was accomplishââ I desire to depart and shall go on to desire it until that wisht ãâã day comes in which I shall actually go till my Soul be set at liberââ and upon its flight under the heavenly Convoy to that blissful plaââ where my Lord and Saviour is So I have finished the second thââ observable in the Text. We now come to the third which there inââed obtains the first place viz. The strait in which at this time our Apostle found himself ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I am in a strait betwixt two The word according to ãâã Criticks signifieth such a straitning as is that of a City when it is ââsely besieged by a strong and vigilant Enemy so that there is no ââtting out nor coming in such a perplexity of mind as that a man ââat an utter loss not knowing what to do nor which way to turn ãâã This was Paul's case unto this loss was he brought He had two ââings before him one of which must of necessity be but which of ââem considering his Circumstances he should make choice of he ââd not know He was in a kind of AEquilibrium the Scales did hang ââen and he could not tell to which side he should incline Quest. But here it may be asked How came this to pass What acâunt is to be given hereof Or what was it that did thus puzzle the ââostle and reduce him to so great a strait Unto this I shall answer âst Negatively and then Affirmatively First Negatively and ãâã in these three things First Paul was not brought into a strait by the fore-thought of these ââins and Agonies which dying Persons feel those great difficulties there ãâã in shooting the Gulf. It is very hard and tedious for some to unâess in the Evening of their day the Garment of Flesh goeth hardly ãâã The pangs of Death are many and great in some poor Creatures âs true it is not so in all there are those to whom an easy and comâââtable passage is granted there are no bonds in their death they pass âough their day with a great deal of comfort and at night are âought to bed with a great deal of ease they have not any violent ârows nor strong Convulsions nor mighty Wrestlings but they ãâã away in a Sleep and sweetly breathe out their precious and preââred Souls into the Arms of God the Bosom of Jesus that Bed of âices and pleasant resting-place But it is not thus in all no no ãâã to some yea to many death comes like its self a King of Terrors ââth a most grim and ghastly countenance handling them roughly ãâã the great affliction of the Relations who are forced to withââaw as unable to bear so dismal a sight and to the astonishment of ãâã standers who cannot give the Narrative of it unto others withâât mingling it with Sighs and Tears How hard a matter do some âor Creatures find it to dye Fain they would but cannot How ââng are they about the work before they can dispatch and finish ãâã How many a Sigh is fetcht and Groan is spent before they can send forth the last breath Specially they find it difficult to dye ãâã are called out to suffer Martyrdom those who are slain for ãâã Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus which they hold ãâã have felt the very worst that Death could do the utmost of ãâã Rage and Fury being put to the most exquisite Tortures that ãâã Wit and Malice of inraged Enemies assisted by Hell its self coâ possibly invent Some being put upon the Rack where all their Boââ have been dislocated and others upon the Wheel where all thâ Bones have been broken and others made a Burnt-Sacrifice beiââ committed to the fury of merciless Flames and gradually consumâ in a slow Fire and at last reduc'd to Ashes which human Natâ could not have born with that invincible Patience which they expreââ had they not been supported by the Divine Power and had preciââ Cordials given them by the Invisible and Gracious Hand of the ãâã Comâorter which our dear Lord Jesus promised to send his Churââ and People that he might be with them and who being a Spiritâ Wisdom and Love will not fail to afford them the most Sovereâ refreshings in the time of their most pressing necessities But thâ dying agonies did not move Paul we do not find him concerâ about them As he made it his great desire to live as God woâ have him holily exemplarily and fruitfully fighting the good figâ and keeping the Faith so he was free to dye as God would hââ him That God who did order and cut out the work of his ãâã should chuse the kind and manner of his Death I have indeed heaââ some truly Gracious Persons say They were not afraid to be deâ because sure of an Eternal Happiness in the other world havâ their Evidences for Heaven so fairly written that they could ãâã and read them but for all that they were afraid to dye because the difficulty of the passage So was not Paul for he did not atâ doubt of his Care and Goodness who having loved his own lovâ them to the end and in it too He did not in the least question ãâã the same God who was with him in the Work of his Ministry and the way he did take would never leave him nor forsake him ãâã be also with him in the valley of the shadow of death and therefore ãâã there he would fear no evil Secondly Paul was not in any strait upon the account of any unceââtainty about his future State not knowing what would become of hiâ or where his lines would be cast next or whither he should go aâtââ Death He was a wiser man than not to secure as the Proverb ãâã the main chance and I heartily wish there were more of that ãâã Wisdom to be found among the Children of Men and that they ââuld live less for time and more for Eternity As for mine own ãâã it is to me
the ãâã knows them not owns them not but hates and persecutes them ãâã they lose nothing by it for then he calls them out of darkness inâis marvellous light then he calls them unto his Kingdom and Glory ãâã doth at death call them to come up to another place come up ãâã He sends for them from all their beloved Friends and Relatiâhere from all their comfortable possessions and enjoyments so ãâã these places shall know them no more but then he calls them ãâã the Church militant where they are often put upon hard service ãâã have their conflicts and wounds to the Church Triumphant where ãâã shall have their Palms and Thrones and Songs of Praise He ãâã them from waiting at the Posts of his door and sitting at his ââshold to a lying in the Bosome of his Everlasting Love So that ãâã can in none of these things find what we are enquiring after viz. ãâã thing which had put this Holy man into a strait What then was it ââswer âourthly and Affirmatively thus The Apostle had two things be ãâã him two Interests in his eye and for each of them there were ãâã strong and weighty Arguments by means of which he was ãâã a Needle between two Load Stones and by them drawn first one way and then another so that as he had said in the foregoâââ Verse Which of them he should chuse he wot not If you ask Wâââ these two things were you will easily understand by consulting ãâã context take it thus One thing was Dying and thereupon a goâââ to Christ and being with him which he knew would be gain to ãâã the other was an abiding here and continuing yet longer in ãâã Flesh to attend upon his Office as an Apostle and Servant of Jeâââ Christ and to engage yet further in the work of the Gospel wâââ he knew would through a concurrence of the Divine Spirit and âââsing turn to the gain and advantage of the Church by bringing in ãâã that were without to the acceptance and obedience of Faith ãâã also by strengthning comforting establishing and building up ãâã higher in Knowledge and Grace those that had been alreââ brought in Now these two things the Apostle doth according ãâã the Wisdom and Grace given him of God compare togerher ãâã one Scale of the Balance he laid his own Gain and particular Advâââtage which would be the infallible and immediate consequence ãâã his Death In the other Scale of the Balance he laid the Churâââ gain which he rationally concluded would be the desirable and âââpy effect of his Life and Ministerial Labours and in his judgâââ the Scales did hang even so even that if a liberty of Electâââ Choice should by God be granted to him he should be at a very ãâã loss not well knowing to which side he should incline whiâââ these two he should chuse And thus good man he was as a pâââprest and straitned between two things and two affections coâââry the one to the other Namely a desire of being present with ãâã Lord though absent from the Brethren and a desire of being âââsent with the Brethren and helpful to them though in order theâââ to he must consent to a being for a time absent from the Lord. ãâã this case he scarce knew what to do That ardent and imâââ Love which he did bear unto the Lord Jesus Christ would puâ upon chusing and desiring a departure hence for where the caââ is there would the Eagles be and where Christ is there would â Christian be That principle of levity which is in the spark ãâã not more naturally carry it upward than a principle of saââ Grace in the heart of a Believer doth carry him out in earnest dâââ and longings to be with Christ But then again That sincere ãâã very great Love which he had to the Brethren did produce in ãâã an humble and holy willingness to continue yet longer here He ãâã desirous to dye that he might enjoy Christ but he had learned tâ ãâã himself for the sake of the Brethren These two things had ââch weight and worth in themselves and such an influence and powââ upon him that he was divided in himself and knew not well upon âhich he should fix his choice Upon the consideration hereof I find âe Learned Zanchy breaking out into this pathetical and admiring âxclamation O cor vere Apostolicum in quo Dei proximi perfecta viââbat dilectio O Heart truly Apostolical worthy of so excellent a âaint so great a man as Paul highly becoming so eminent an âfficer as an Apostle of Jesus Christ in which there was such a ââre and vehement Flame both to God and to his Neighbour ââere was indeed the Spirit of a Saint here was a Christian in his âeauty and Glory here was Love doing its perfect work both âward Christ and to his Interest toward first the Person of Christ âhom it longs to embrace and enjoy and towards the people âf Christ whom it is also free to serve Thus have I done with the âird and last thing in the Text viz. the Strait in which Paul was ând how he came to be brought into it wherein there is an evident ââscovery of the excellency and nobleness of this great man's Spirit âut he was inlarged and set at liberty again as you find in the two âerses immediately fellowing the Text Nevertheless to abide in the ââsh is more needful for you and having confidence I know that I shall ââide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of Faith ââat your rejoycing may be more abundant in Iesus Christ for me by my ââming to you again This he knew would be and so long as it was ââr the Glory of God and their good he was very well pleased ââne request indeed he had to make to them that while he continued âmong them he might live comfortably among them that they âould not be his Grief but Joy while they prectice what he âreached and lived up to the Mysteries he reveal'd and those exâellent Rules he laid down Verse 27. Only let your conversation ãâã as it becometh the Gospel of Christ. Thus have I with all the conveniânt speed I could make run through those things which are conââained in this Scripture and endeavoured in an expository way to âxplain and open them to you The only thing which according âo promise at our entrance into this Discourse doth remain âurther âo be done is to draw up some Doctrinal conclusions from the âhole and present them to you which I shall with God's Assistance âo and in few words dispatch every one of them leaving you to ânlarge upon them in your own Meditations and commending both âhem and you to the Divine Blessing for improvement First observe from these words that Death is a departure or going froâ hence Here you are now and some of you have been so a long while sâ long as that others are weary of you and possibly you
Ease which through the Blessing of God it doth produce in the Patient that takes it Death hath but a bad look a grim countenance but yet it comes upon a good Errand it hath the hands of Esau which are very rough but its voice is the voice of Iacob speaking Peace and Comfort to a Child of God You see here in the Text that Paul desir'd it and he very well understood himself he knew there was sufficient yea abundant reason for his doing so It must be acknowledged That Death was at first threatned as a Curse and since the Fall it hath been inflicted as the Punishment of Sin But God for the great Love wherewith he loves his People and for the sake of his Son our dear Lord Jesus hath as to them turned that Curse into a Blessing That which was a part of the Curse is now the high-way to all Blessedness as matrers do now stand not to dye would be a loss a prejudice to the Saints Iob 7.16 I loath it I would not live alway if I might I would not i. e. here in this world It is a very great aggravation of the misery of the Damned in Hell that they cannot dye death flees from them tho they desire it and seek it and earnestly call after it yet it will not come nay it cannot The hopes of Annihiâation would be grateful and pleasant to them fain they would not be but be they must whether they will or no. But Death will come to a Child of God would he not live always then âhall not Only to him Death comes in the fittest season not till work be done and he be ripe for Glory he goeth to his Grave ãâã shock of Corn in its season If Spiritual Death be taken away ââch separates between the Soul and God Natural Death can do hurt tho it doth for a time separate between the Soul and the ââly Now from this Truth two things do necessarily follow âirst That Death is not to be feared by a Believer There are other ââgs enough which are the proper Objects of our Fear and it would our âolly not to fear them Of these things Sin is one Do not liâ to its voice nor comply with its motions nor set your hand to work though it come with the most tempting smiles and alluring ârms stand at a distance from it and bid defiance to it for its ãâã is more bitter than wormwood God is another Jer. 10.7 Who ââd not fear thee O King of Nations for to thee it doth appertain It âart of that natural worship which is due to him fear him as ââldren a Father rejoyce at the remembrance of his Holiness and ãâã the Lord and his Goodness fear to break his Commands and âbuse his mercies and thereby provoke him to withdraw from ãâã his assistances and comforts and to set upon you the marks of displeasure Your own hearts are another if he that trusts in his ãâã heart be a fool then to be afraid of our selves and of our own ââts is a special piece of wisdom As the heart of man is knotty âcrabbed so it is treacherous deceitful above all things and deâately wicked therefore let us watch our hearts and be jealous ãâã our selves with a godly jealousie But be not afraid to dye A âââistian ought to be at God's ordering Be willing to live as long as ãâã will have you though it be an afflictive and troublesome life ââgh it be a sickly and painful life though it be a mean and poor ãâã Iob could say upon his Dunghill in the midst of outward and âââard anguish Iob 14.14 All the days of my appointed time I will ãâã till my change shall come Wait with patience live out of a prinâe of obedience to God and then be willing to die when God will ãâã you Death hath lost its sting and now you may play with it ãâã reconciled and therefore will not be unkind nor do you a misâf It is your Father's servant and therefore cannot go beyond his ââmission the Scripture tells you 1 Cor. 5.21 22. Death is yours âell as life It is a part of your interest You owe a great deal to ââth as it puts an end to all your sins and sorrows and as it is a pasââ though a dark one to Heaven and Glory Secondly The Death of those who died in the Lord is not upon ãâã account to be bewailed by those their near and dear Relations that superâ them Indeed as it is a loss to the Family and Friends and to ãâã Nation and to that part of the Church which is here a sense of ãâã and a sorrow for it is to be allowed them and commended ãâã them for it is no other than their duty It is a sign of a bad heaâ and of approaching evil when the righteous perish and no man ãâã it to heart Isa. 57.1 Only that Sorrow is to be kept under coââmand and within those bounds that Religion and right Reason ãâã set it Tho over their Graves we may drop our Tears we must ãâã drown our selves But the more deeply sensible we are of our loss ãâã more careful and diligent we ought to be about the improving ãâã making it up Have we lost much of the Creature then let us labâ to get so much the more of God and Iesus Christ There is not ãâã loss here below that we can meet with but if we will be founâ the way of our duty it may yea for certain it shall be repaâ and made up to us But the Death of Holy Gracious Persons is to be bewailed upon their account They stand in no need of anâ our Sighs or Tears Their case doth not call for it Tho they diâ their Strength and Prime in their Youth or in their consistent ãâã yet they did not dye too soon They liv'd as long as God would ãâã them and that was long enough They do not dye too soon who ãâã they dye go to Christ. Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead that dyâ the Lord. They are not miserable then but happy yea more haââ than ever they were before When thou thinkest My Relation is dââ follow that thought with this My Relation is blessed Now she ãâã indeed now she is happy indeed The life she had here ãâã not deserve the name of a life if compared with that life which now hath with Christ. Fifthly A truly yea an eminently Gracious Person may be in a ãâã about dying-work When David was almost consumed with the ãâã of God's hand He prayed O spare me that I may recover streââ before I go hence and be seen no more Psal. 39.13 When Hezââ was commanded by the Prophet from the Lord To set his housâ order for he should dye and not live he turned his face to the wall ãâã prayed and wept sore Isa. 38.1 c. Paul here was in a strait ãâã that proceeded from a more noble Cause than that of many ãâã was brought into it