imitation of their holy life. To see a child of God die from amongst
men, leave this world with a holy contempt and sincere pleasure, and
enter into the presence of his heavenly Father with a filial confidence;
to see him finish his race with joy, and, as it were, lay hold on
salvation, and put on his heavenly crown: This calls aloud upon us to
tread in the same steps, to pursue the blessed prize, and to be
_followers of them, who, through faith and patience, inherit the
promises_; Heb. vi. 12. When we _mark the perfect man, and behold the
upright, and see that his end is peace_; Ps. xxxvii. 37. we are animated
to walk with God in the same uprightness, and to press after the same
perfection. Having such _a cloud of witnesses_ that have gone before us,
and Christ our Lord at the head of them, _we run with patience the race
that is set before us_, till we arrive at the promised glory; Heb. xii.
1.
To stand near the bed of a dying saint, and observe the sweet serenity
of his soul under the agonies of his flesh, would force Balaam himself
to say, _Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be
like his_; Numb. xxiii. 10. But the christian goes further, and with
holy zeal, and humble dependance upon divine grace, establishes himself
in the ways of holiness: He resolves that he will live the life of the
righteous too, and tread in the paths of piety with utmost watchfulness
and care that he may lay a foundation for the same peaceful reflections
on his death-bed, and the same joyful prospect.
3. The death of fellow-saints is for our benefit, as it weans us from
this world, as it makes earth and this life less pleasant to us, and
heaven more desirable. Every holy soul that leaves the world, carries
away so much grace and goodness from it. What would this world be if all
the saints had left it, but a cage of unclean birds, a nest of serpents,
a wilderness of savage beasts, a habitation of Satan, and his sons and
daughters; a dwelling of devils, and a region of darkness a-kin to hell?
Did not converting grace turn sinners into saints, and make a constant
succession of christians, this would be the dismal character of this
world in the space of one generation. But, blessed be God, as bad as
this world is, divine grace is still at work, and makes it a sort of
nursery for heaven by new conversions.
Yet still the death of the saints is the loss of so much of heaven out
of our sinful world; and the fewer friends God has here, there will be
the fewer communications between heaven and earth. The absence of Christ
and his saints, spreads a sort of dim shadow over all the fairest
colours of this lower creation; the beauties of it fade, and the flowers
of it, in our esteem, languish and hang their head, because Jesus, and
so many of his holy ones, are departed. When we see one pious friend
after another, taking their leave of us, and ascending to the upper
world, we are ready to say, “What should we stay here for? Our God is on
high, our Saviour is on high, multitudes of our friends are departed
from us, and dwell on high. Farewell earth, and time, and sensible
things: We long to be with our best friends, and with our God; we are
ready, O Jesus, for thy first summons; take us when thou pleasest into
heaven and eternity.”
4. The comfortable death of a saint instructs us how to die, and makes
death easy. When we see and hear a fellow-christian examining his heart,
searching his soul to the bottom, turning all his secret thoughts
outward, and looking over the past conduct of his life; when we behold
him reviewing his own follies and iniquities, and recalling to mind also
all his sacred transactions with God; when we see him surveying all
these most important concerns in the light of the last judgment, and, as
it were, under the piercing rays of the great tribunal; when we hear him
abasing himself to the dust in the most vilifying expressions, because
of his sins, and yet rejoice in the evidences of his graces, and
repeating the promises of the gospel with a pleasant hope; this teaches
us to converse with our own souls in a more lively manner, about sin and
forgiveness, about death and eternity; for it brings these awful themes
into open view, and sets them before us in their infinite importance.
This reads us a glorious lecture upon the gospel of Christ, and
pardoning grace, and the sanctifying Spirit, and the hope of glory,
beyond what we ever found before in the best of sermons, and under the
warmest preachers.
Come, my friends, come into the chamber of a dying christian, come,
approach his pillow, and hear his holy language: “I am going up to
heaven, and I long to be gone, to be where my Saviour is. _Why are his
chariot-wheels so long a coming?_ Then with both arms stretched up to
heaven, I desire to be with God. I hope I am a sincere christian, but
the meanest, and the most unworthy: I know I am a great sinner; but did
not Christ come to save the chief of sinners; I hope I shall find
acceptance in Christ Jesus. I have trusted in him, and I have strong
consolation. I have been looking into my own heart, what are my
evidences for heaven? Has not the scripture said, _He that believeth
shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life_; John iii. 16. Now,
according to the best knowledge I have of what faith is, I do believe in
Christ, and I shall have life everlasting. Does not the scripture say,
_He that hungereth and thirsteth after righteousness shall be
satisfied_; Mat. v. 6. Surely I hunger and thirst after it, I desire to
be holy, I long to be conformable to God, and to be made more like him;
shall I not then be satisfied! I love God, I love Christ, I desire to
love him more, to be more like him, and to serve him in heaven without
sin. I have faith, I have love, I have repentance, yet I boast not, for
I have nothing of myself, I speak it all to the honour of the grace of
God, it is all grace; I say then, I have faith, and repentance, and
love; but faith and repentance are all nothing without Christ; it is he
makes all acceptable to the Father, and I trust in him. My friends, I
have built on this foundation Jesus Christ, he is indeed the only
foundation: Have you not built on the same foundation too? This is my
hope. Is it not your hope also? Dear brother, I shall see you at the
right-hand of Christ: There I shall see our friends that are gone a
little before: I shall be with them first before you. I thank you, my
friends, for all your offices of love; you have prayed with me, you have
refreshed me. I love and honour you now, but I shall meet you in heaven,
I go to my God and your God, to my Saviour and your Saviour[42].”
Would one think there could be so much pleasure in the dying chamber of
a beloved friend? Surely this makes good the words of my text; if we are
christians, death is ours. O this is a divine entertainment that
refreshes our spirits! And while sorrow trickles from our eyes for the
loss of a departing christian-friend; there is a sympathy of joy that
works powerfully at the heart, and the heaven within us breaks out and
shines through our tears. Then, with a wondrous mixture of the painful
and the pleasant, with a sweet confusion of pious passions, we bid our
dying brother, “Farewell.”
At such a season as this, our thoughts are led upward to heaven, and
forward to the great resurrection. We open the eye of faith, and see the
holy soul ascending to God; we behold the weak and languishing body
rising glorious out of the grave, shaking off the dust, and putting on
its immortality: While our faith attends the spirit of our departing
friend to heaven, we grow willing and desirous to be gone too; and being
brought so near to the gates of glory, we would fain take our leave of
mortal things, and accompany the expiring saint to the joyful world of
spirits. The memory of such a scene, and such a hour, will dwell upon
our thoughts long, and support our own hope of victory, when we shall be
called to conflict with the same enemy. Having such a witness gone
before us, we shall not only _run our race with patience_, through all
the stages of it, but _finish our course with joy_.
There is a sacred courage derived many times to a weak believer, by
attending the last moments of a dying saint ascending to the upper
world. I was afraid of death, says a feeble christian, till I saw my
neighbour die: He was once a sinner as well as I, and he had his
imperfections and failings in this life, as I have mine; I humbly hope I
have practised the same repentance as he has done, I have trusted in the
same Saviour, I have ventured my all upon the same gospel, and travelled
on in the same path: surely there is forgiveness for me too; surely the
sting of my death shall be taken away also; and, through grace, I shall
join in his triumph; _O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy
victory_; 1 Cor. xv. 55.
This observation has been most gloriously exemplified in the death of
martyrs: When the spectators that have been heathens, or but almost
christians, have been strangely animated to profess the gospel boldly,
while they have seen the most amazing courage of these glorious
sufferers for Christ. And those that have been doubtful and trembling
believers, whose faith was wavering, and who were ready to let go their
profession, have ventured through blood and torments, and death, with a
divine resolution, when they have beheld the martyrs meet the same death
and torments with a sacred bravery of soul.
A multitude of fearful christians may be animated and encouraged to
travel through the dark valley, and to cross the cold flood of death, by
the example of a single saint, who has passed that important hour with
success and honour. So you have seen a flock of sheep stand doubtful and
delaying on the bank of some little brook; but when the first and second
have made their way through it, the rest venture over in multitudes, and
leap the ditch with the greatest ease, the difficulty and the danger
vanish at once, when they have seen a forerunner leading the way.
Thus it hath been made evident in several instances, that the death of
fellow-christians is ours. It shall turn to our great advantage, through
the influences of the gospel, and the Spirit of grace, where christians
die like themselves, in the exercise of a joyful hope. It confirms our
faith in the gospel of Christ, it encourages our imitation of their holy
life, it makes earth and this life less pleasant to us, and heaven more
desirable, and it instructs us how to die.
But if a saint go out of this world under much darkness and terror, this
is commonly to be supposed a divine chastisement for the criminal
indulgence of some temptations, or some unwatchful steps he has taken in
the course of his life; for God will make his own people know, many
times by painful experience, that it is an evil and bitter thing to
backslide and depart from him. A wise and pious spectator upon this
occasion, will take warning by the terrors of the Lord, and by the
punishment of his fellow-christian, to avoid that guilt, and those
criminal indulgences, which have provoked God to leave his brother to
darkness, even in the hour of death: And this may be a means to awaken
him to a most watchful course of holiness, lest he fall under the same
strokes of anger from his heavenly Father, and suffer his displeasure in
that awful moment, when he would most earnestly wish for the sweetest
sense of his love. Thus I have finished the third general head, and
shewed that the death of the saints may be richly improved to the
advantage of the living.
The Recollection.—“Come, my soul, who art daily conversing with the
affairs and concerns of life, come now, and meditate on the name of
death: It is a name that carries much terror in it to nature; come, and
see whether thou canst not derive a blessing from it, by the
instructions of the gospel, and the aids of grace. Thou hast heard the
lessons that the death of mankind in general should teach thee: Enquire
now what thou hast learned of them: Hast thou seen the vanity of man as
a mortal dying creature? It is an easy matter to say, Alas, we must all
die: But hast thou felt the penetrating force of this truth? And does it
influence thy whole conduct? Art thou not still, at every turn, putting
thy confidence in one creature or another, whose breath is in his
nostrils, and whose death disappoints thy hope? Or hast thou removed thy
dependance from all creatures to God, and fixed thy hope in him that
lives for ever? O blessed effect of the meditation on death?”
“Again, Hast thou seen the heinous evil of sin in the spreading
desolation that death has made over this lower world? Remember that it
received its commission from the justice of God, almost six thousand
years ago, and from his law which sin had broken: The dreadful execution
proceeds to this day, and it will proceed till there be no sinner upon
earth. Sin is the spring of all this havoc of the lives of men. It is
sin that has deserved all these tremendous executions of wrath: And yet,
O my soul, how often hast thou indulged this mischief, to play about thy
bosom, like a harmless thing! Come, view the dismal effects of it, in
the death of millions, and learn to hate and renounce it for ever. It is
no small evil that could awaken the indignation of God at this rate, and
diffuse it so widely, over so large and so glorious a part of his
creation, as the whole nature and race of man.
“Again, I would enquire, has the death of mankind taught me effectually,
that I must shortly die? And have I been excited, to make a suitable
provision for this awful and important hour, since I must not, I cannot
escape it? Not only the death of mankind in general, but the death of
wicked men may instruct me in some useful lessons too. Here I learn how
God rescues his children from the rage of oppressors, when he smites
them down to death, and lays all their fury silent in the dust. Thus
death itself becomes a deliverer to the saints, by destroying their
cruel persecutors. I learn also, that when early or sudden death has
seized a bold sinner, it is a loud warning-word to all his companions.
When I see such terrible examples in the course of providence, let my
soul stand in awe and fear.
“And if God has distinguished me by his mercy, if he has pardoned my
guilt, and sanctified my corrupt nature, if he has made me one of his
own children, and prepared me for dying, when he summons others away
unpardoned, unsanctified, unprepared, let all my powers be excited to
bless the name of the Lord for his saving love. I was also a child of
sin and wrath, but divine grace has made the difference. It is grace
that has snatched me from the very brink of the pit of hell, and is
training me up for heaven. And while I adore thy distinguishing mercy, O
my God, to me, I would pity and pray for poor heedless and regardless
sinners, that are following one another in a dismal succession, down to
the gates of death. O may their eyes and souls be awakened in their day
of life and hope, lest death seize them, and send them farther down to
everlasting darkness and despair! But if such lessons, as these, be
derived from the death of sinners, how much more benefit may be drawn
from the dying hours of a sincere christian, especially if his heart be
strong, and his faith lively!
“Here, I see the gospel of Christ in some of its power and glory, when I
see a christian under all the weaknesses and languishings of nature,
meeting death without terror, and _overcoming his last enemy by the
blood of the Lamb_. I see the saint all serene and peaceful, even in the
agonies of dying nature, and amidst the sorrows of lamenting friends. He
has heaven in view, and he bids farewell to earth with holy joy: Shall I
not imitate the faith and holiness of his life, which laid a foundation
for so peaceful and glorious a death? Do I not feel my soul a little
more weaned from the world, since such a pious friend has left it? Has
not death lost some of its frightful appearances, since I have actually
seen it conquered? Do I not feel my heart panting and breathing toward
the society above, since I have another friend gone thither? Does it not
seem a more easy thing to me to lay down this tabernacle, to part with
flesh and blood, and to venture into those unseen regions, since I have
beheld my fellow-christian go before me? He has made the great and
solemn experiment, and surely I should have courage to follow: He has
given evident proof, that there is a sacred power in the gospel, the
promises and the grace of Christ, to convey the soul safe through the
dark shadow of death, without surprise and consternation: And has not my
soul the same rich encouragements, the same promises of grace, and the
same gospel of hope?
“O my Redeemer, and my Lord, hear a humble suppliant, influence my soul
by thy rich grace, to keep my faith awake, my conscience undefiled, and
my evidences for heaven ever bright and clear; And when my appointed
hour comes, that solemn and final hour, _let me die the death of the
righteous_, and my departure be like his; Num. xxiii. 10. Is death an
enemy to nature, and does it carry terror in the name? Yet since thou
hast subdued this enemy, and taken it captive, to serve the purposes of
thy love, since thou hast numbered it, and written it down among the
possessions of thy people: since thou hast taught so many of thy
followers to triumph over it; let me also, blessed Jesus, let me be
enabled to meet it with holy fortitude, and a lively hope. O let me
follow _the footsteps of the flock_, into the world of spirits, with a
sacred pleasure, though it be through a dark passage. And as those, who
went before me, have taught me to dare to die, so let my dying moments
encourage those who come after me, to venture into death, at thy call,
without terror and without reluctance.” _Amen._
HYMN FOR SERMON XLI.
_Death of Mankind, Saints and Sinners, Improved._
Has death such vast destruction made?
Does every hour increase the dead?
Here I behold the guilt of sin,
That brought this spreading mischief in.
Great God! How awful and how just!
Thy law, that turns our flesh to dust!
O let me learn how frail am I,
And all my life prepare to die.
When impious wretches yield their breath,
And go unpardon’d down to death,
Awake my soul, adore the grace;
That gave thee a repenting space.
But when a saint with chearful air
Meets his last foe, and feels no fear,
Our faith, our hope, and courage grow;
We learn to face the tyrant too.
We could renounce our all things here,
And wish that moment would appear,
When we shall leave this world and rise
To meet the joys above the skies.
Footnote 42:
These are some of the dying words of the Reverend Mr. Samuel Rosewell,
when, with some other friends, I went to visit him two days before his
death, and which I transcribed as soon as I came home, by their
assistance.
SERMON XLII.
_The Death of Kindred improved._
1 COR. iii. 22.——Whether life or death,——all are yours.
Happy and immortal had Adam been, and all his children, if he had not
ventured to break the command of his Creator: Life had been theirs in
the most glorious sense of it; and death had not been known. But when
sin entered into the world, death followed close behind it, according to
that just and solemn threatening, _In the day thou eatest, thou shalt
surely die_; Gen. ii. 17. And what a dismal havoc has this enemy made
amongst the inhabitants of our world! It has strewed the earth with
carcases, and turned millions of human bodies into dust and corruption.
The very name of death spreads a terror through all nature: But as
dreadful and formidable as it is in itself, the grace of Christ makes a
blessing of it, and sanctifies it to the advantage of his own people.
In the former discourse on this subject, we have learned some divine
lessons from death, in its widest extent of dominion. The death of all
mankind yields some special advantage to a saint: He is taught to reap
some benefit from the death of impenitent sinners, though it carry along
with it, such a fearful train of attendants, and draw after it a long
eternity of torments. He knows how to derive some advantage from the
death of his fellow-christians; and whether they die in the joy of
faith, and serenity of spirit, or whether their sun sets in a cloud, and
fears and doubts attend them, in that important hour, still he is taught
to profit by it. In these three instances, it appears that death is
ours: Death is in this respect made the treasure and property of a
christian, as he is instructed to improve it, to his own sacred
interest, and to the welfare of his soul. We proceed now to the
Fourth general head, and shall endeavour to shew how the death of our
relations and kindred in the flesh shall turn to our benefit.
I. It shews us the emptiness and insufficiency of our dearest created
comforts, of all blessings that are not immortal.
We have lost, perhaps, an inferior relation, a son, a daughter, a
nephew, a pleasing entertainment and comfort of life: But death tells
us, it was a poor dying comfort, a pretty piece of brittle clay, broken
and dissolved, and mouldering to the dust. Our love and our grief, it
may be, join together, to recal the past days of fondness and delight,
short-lived delight, and empty vain fondness, that ends in tears and
long mourning? We have lost a superior relation, or perhaps, an equal, a
father, a wife, a husband, or a brother: We have lost a guide, a
support, a helper, a dear affectionate friend, entirely loving and
entirely beloved.
He was a kind and skilful guide, but death teaches us the insufficiency
of his guidance, who left us in the mid-way, and lets us travel through
all the remaining part of this dark wilderness alone. He has given us
sweet counsel and direction in days past, but he can now direct us no
more, we can consult him no more: Those lips of advice, on which we
hung, are closed and silent in death: That voice will be heard no more:
We must walk without this counsellor all the rest of our way, be it
never so long, and never so dangerous.
He was our helper, and our support under daily difficulties; but it was
a weak support, that could not stand itself, when death shook him: A
poor helper, and a sorry defence, that could not resist the powers of
disease and mortality, nor defend himself from the assaults of death.
He was a friend, and a faithful one too; but it was a feeble, a failing
friend, even in the midst of his love and faithfulness; for he was
called away, and constrained to depart from us in a dark and sorrowful
minute, and hath left us to mourn alone.—He could not abide with us a
moment beyond his summons; he forsook us while we were drowned in grief,
and could give us no more consolation. _Our fathers where are they?_
_Our prophets_, our instructors, our guides, and helpers are gone down
to the land of silence, they lie asleep in the dust and darkness; Zech.
i. 5.
Thus death is made of advantage to us, even when it strikes us in so
tender a part: For it teaches us this sacred lesson, how vain and empty
are all our hopes in creatures! The dart of death is like a pen of iron
in his hand, and he writes emptiness and vanity on every friend, on
every relative that he takes from our family, from our side, from our
bosom: He writes it in deep and painful characters, and holds our souls
to the solemn lesson. The same truth stands written in many a part of
the book of God, in divine and golden letters; but perhaps, we would
never have learned it, had not death copied it out for us in letters of
blood.
II. The death of our kindred drives us to a more immediate and constant
dependance on God. When the stream is cut off, what should we do but run
to the fountain? If the stars vanish, we seek the sun-beams. And O may
the sun arise, and shine upon our souls with growing light and comfort
as the stars disappear!
While our friends or kindred were alive, we made them our refuge in
every distress; we have trusted in them perhaps too much; we have lived
too much upon them, with the neglect of God. A parent, a brother, or
perhaps a dearer relative; these were our high tower, our defence, our
sun, and our shield: These assumed that station in our hearts, and that
high place in our esteem, which is due to God only. But, when this tower
is battered down to dust, when the shield of clay is broken to pieces,
and this dim and feeble sun turned into darkness, then we make God alone
our sun, our shield, and our high tower of defence. Then we search out
earnestly, what kind and condescending characters, and relations God has
assumed in his word; and we read and survey the gracious titles of our
Lord Jesus Christ, with new and unknown delight.