Let dissolution come when it will, it can do the Christian no harm,
for it will be but only a passage out of a prison into a palace; out
of a sea of troubles into a haven, of rest; out of a crowd of
enemies to an innumerable company of true, loving, and faithful
friends; out of shame, reproach, and contempt, into exceeding great
and eternal glory.
Another improvement of Christ's death for us was this: by it he slew
for us our infernal foes; by it he abolished death; by death he
destroyed him that had the power of death; by death he took away the
sting of death; by death he made death a pleasant sleep to saints,
and the grave for a while an easy house and home for the body.
We change our drossy dust for gold, From death to life we fly: We
let go shadows, and take hold Of immortality.
Blood takes away the guilt; inherent grace weakens the filth; but
the grave is the place, at the mouth of which sin and the saved must
have a perfect and final parting. Not that the grave of itself is of
a sin-purging quality, but God will follow Satan home to his own
door, for the grave is the door or gate of hell, and will there,
where the devil thought to have swallowed us up, even there by the
power of his mercy, make us shine like the sun and look like angels.