their pains been soothed by these pleasant sounds! And how have they expressed, though with faultering lips, the inward satisfaction and composure they have felt!" The foundation of God standeth sure—He is faithful that hath promised—I have cast anchor on his truth and goodness-There I leave myself— I hope, I trust all is well." But it is the happiness of some of them, 3. To enjoy at this critical season an assurance of faith. They are not only well satisfied of the grounds on which their future expectations are built, and have a good hope through grace, as the apostle expresses it a; but they are relieved of all their doubts, and possess a firm persuasion of their everlasting felicity. Fear and dread fall upon their enemies, as Moses says of the Canaanites; they are still as a stone, till thy people pass over, thy people, O Lord, whom thou hast purchased b. The conflicts which they before endured are now at an end. The grand question is decided. They know whom they have believed, and are persuaded that he is able to keep what they have committed to him against that day c. They are sealed with the Spirit of promise d, and are waiting for their dismission hence to glory. O how fair the appearance religion now assumes! How attractive the charms it now wears! Who can behold the dying Christian in this temper, without envying him of the pleasure he feels? His joys it may be are not ecstatic and triumphant ; yet he is more than composed, for he is cheerful; more than peaceful, for he is happy. He possesses himself. And smiling upon his friends, instead of waiting to receive consolation from them, he becomes their instructor and comforter. How calm his reasonings! How pleasing his reflections! How gentle and persuasive his admonitions! From him then let us now learn what it is to die, and what is the use of religion in death"Life, with all its pleasant scenes, says he, is passing away; but I regret not its loss. I have long since pronounced vanity on the world: more substantial bliss I have in prospect-Afflicted I am; yet my affliction is light and momentary, less, far less than I have deserved. It is the will of my heavenly Father, and I submit a 2 Thess. ii. 16, e 2 Tim. i. 12 b Exod. xv. 16. to it. He makes my pillow easy, and why should I murmur? -Death I see approaching; but I am not afraid to die. My sins, which I have felt and bewailed, the blood of Christ hath done away; and being reconciled by his death, how much more shall I be saved by his life! O how precious is Christ now to my soul! How reviving the hope of dwelling for ever with him! -With you, my friends, I must quickly part; but I have a bet ter company to join.-I commit you into the hands of a good God, and hope to meet you again-O make him your trust, and he will never forsake you."-Happy man! Who would not be glad, in this temper of mind, to make his exit hence ?—And yet a higher degree of happiness still is the exalted privilege of some few holy men of God; for there are those, 4. Who pass o the stage of life triumphantly. To composure succeeds cheerfulness; to cheerfulness assu rance; and to assurance an ecstasy of divine joy-an elevation of the mind to God, that is truly noble and astonishing, and yet widely different from the unmeaning raptures of imagination and enthusiasm. It is the genuine effect, not of an artificial management of the passions, but of a deep and lively impression of eternal things upon the heart. It is a kind of exultation that, instead of weakening or obstructing the powers of reason, refines and improves them. For the same heavenly ray that warms, enlightens; beams upon the understanding, while it enkindles the affections. O with what refulgent splendour do the glories of the other world now dart upon the whole soul, and light it into one bright and inextinguishable flame! How doth the countenance of the transfigured Christian, if I may so describe him, resemble that of an angel of God, while like Stephen he sees the glory of God, and Jesus standing at his right hand: and while like Elijah his immortal spirit ascends to heaven in a chariot of celestial fire! All thoughts about the present world, all dread of death, yea his very pains, are absorbed and swallowed up in that sense he feels of the love of God, and in those transporting perceptions of approaching bliss which overwhelm his heart. He is just setting foot on the shore of Canaan-at the very suburbs of heaven-stretching out the hand to seize the His imprisoned spirit, impatient of confinement, is ready to burst the shell, and to force its passage out of this tenement crown. of clay. He can scarce contain himself. His joy is unspeakable and full of glory. Now with the great apostle he sings, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who giveth me the victory through Jesus Christ my Lord a. Now with Job he exults,- O that my words were written in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day on the earth. And though after my skin, worms destroy this body; yet in my flesh shall I see God b.'-I now see him-It is enough. Thus led by the hand of the good Shepherd, and thus comforted with his rod and his staff, he passes joyfully the dark valley of the shadow of death; and even before he gets through it, joins the angelic throng who wait his arrival, in the new and triumphant song of Moses and the Lamb.-And now, III. What improvement is to be made of these things? Why, 1. From the terrors of death, as you have heard them described, we may take our measures of sin. God is unquestionably most wise and good. And death is, in the apprehension both of nature and conscience, a very great evil. Mankind must therefore have offended God in a very high degree, or he would not have inflicted so ignominious and bitter a curse upon them. Go, ye who make a mock of sin, see the king of terrors wreaking his resentments on the impenitent and ungodly, and then say, Whether that which gives the last enemy so ghastly a countenance, and arms him with such sharp and poisonous darts, is not of all evils the greatest? O if men did but seriously listen to the great truths which this last solemn event teaches, they would not, they could not think so lightly of sin, much less so greedily commit it, as they commonly do! 2. How infinitely are we indebted to the blessed God, for that glorious deliverance from the terrors of death and its tremendous consequences, which the gospel so mercifully proposes ! Death had made an eternal sacrifice of every individual of the human species to the just resentments of Heaven, had not the Son of God interposed, and by dying satisfied the demands of a 1 Cor. xv. 56, 57. b Job xix. 23-26. justice, and destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. O amazing love of the Father, that he should not spare his own Son, but freely give him up for our sakes! And O amazing love of Christ, that he should taste death, in all the bitterness of it, to provide for our support and comfort in these trying moments! What gratitude, as well as joy, should inspire our hearts, while we reflect thus on the infinite expence at which we are saved from the curse of this the greatest of natural evils, and in the prospect of which the stoutest heart trembles ! 3. What an inestimable blessing is true religion! It is the only thing that will stand us in stead in the hour of death. Neither wealth, nor power, nor greatness, nor friends, will be of any avail then. Men may despise it when they are in health and strength, and in the midst of affluence and pleasure; but where is the wretch that dares laugh at it in the immediate views of eternity?-Ah! no. They then think otherwise. Had they millions of worlds, they would part with them all, to obtain the comforts and hopes I have been just now describing. How desirable then is an interest in Christ! He alone can save an immortal soul from the miseries of the second death, and give it an admission into the realms of light and glory above. O may this therefore be the grand object of our concern, and may every thing else be held in sovereign contempt, when compared with this, the greatest good! In one word, 4. If there are such supports provided for the dying Christian, and such bright prospects beyond the grave; then let the faith of these things have its suitable effect on our temper and conduct-to moderate our affections to the world-to reconcile us to our afflictions-to infuse sweetness into our enjoymentsand to subdue in us the fear of death. The Lord is your Shepherd, Christian, you shall not want. He will take care of you all the days of your pilgrimage on earth. He will sustain you with his rod and staff in the valley of the shadow of death. And he will at length give you a joyful entrance into the heavenly world, where you shall dwell in his house for ever. DISCOURSE XVII. THE FINAL CONSUMMATION OF RELIGION IN HEAVEN. ROM. VI. 22.The end everlasting life. Ir hath ever been the perverse language of the men of this world, "What is the Almighty that we should serve him? and what profit shall we have if we pray to him?" A kind of expostulation which argues as great a degree of ignorance and folly, as of impiety and profaneness. What profit?—There is great profit in serving God. Thousands in every age have borne this honourable testimony to real religion. A mighty prince, and the wisest too that ever swayed an earthly sceptre, hath told us that the ways of wisdom are pleasantness, and all her paths are peace a. And the great apostle of Christ, whose testimony is unquestionable, hath assured us that godliness is profitable unto all things, having a promise of the life that now is b. But, admitting that it were in some respects otherwiseadmitting that the path in which the Christian is led, were dark, rough and intricate, and that temptations, dangers and sorrows awaited him all his way through this wilderness; yet still the profit is great, inconceivably great: for THE END IS EVERLAST ING LIFE. Such you see is the language of the text. And the argument receives no small additional force from the very striking light in which the apostle hath placed it; I mean the contrast he forms between the characters and future condition of the righteous on the one hand, and of the wicked on the other. He had been reasoning with the Christians at Rome upon their obligations to obedience. And in order to fix these impressions the deeper in their hearts, he reminds them of the miserable state they were in, while under the power of sin and unbelief; and then opposes to that state their present happy condition, a Prov. iii. 17. b 1 Tim. iv. 8. |