safe to shore.-2. It is said, that this doctrine gives encouragement to indulge in sin, and to commit such gross sins as Lot, David, and others, upon an opinion that they are the children of God, and upon a presumption that they cannot so fall as to perish everlastingly. To which it may be replied, that such sins mentioned, committed without repentance towards God and faith in the blood and sacrifice of Christ, those who are guilty of them shall not inherit the kingdom of God; but according to the law, die without mercy; and even those good men who did commit such sins, though they had true faith and genuine repentance, their sins were so displeasing to God, and resented by him, that he visited their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquities with stripes, though his loving-kindness was not taken away from them. And the above instances of sin are recorded not to encourage sin, but to caution against it, and to show the weakness of the best of men, and to set forth the pardoning grace and mercy of God to such offenders, in order to relieve souls distressed with sin, and to give them hope of the pardon of it. And whatsoever ill use such persons may make of these instances who have only an opinion of their being the children of God, such who are really so by faith in Christ neither can nor will make such a use of them.3. It is objected, that this doctrine lessens the force of the prohibitions of sin, and of exhortations to avoid it, and of motives offered to persevere in righteousness and holiness. But these prohibitions of sin and motives to holiness are used by the Spirit of God as means of perseverance, and so they are considered by good men. And it would be absurd and irrational to judge otherwise; for can a man believe he shall persevere to the end, and yet indulge himself in sin, as if he was resolved not to persevere ? and nothing can be stronger motives to holiness and righteousness, than the absolute and unconditional promises of God to his people, and the firm assurance given them of their being the children of God, and the redeemed of the Lamb. - 4. Whereas we argue, that the doctrine of the saints' apostacy obstructs the peace and comfort of believers; it is objected to that of their perseverance, that it is not therefore true because it is comfortable to carnal minds, which are opposite to the doctrine according to godliness. To which it may be answered, that our argument does not proceed upon the comfortableness of the doctrine we plead for, but upon the uncomfortableness of the opposite to it; for though a doctrine may not be true which is seemingly comfortable to a carnal mind, yet that doctrine is certainly not true which is really uncomfortable to a sanctified heart; or which manifestly breaks in upon the true peace and comfort of a believer, as the doctrine of the saints' apostacy does; since the whole Scripture, and all the doctrines of it, are calculated for the comfort as well as for the instruction and edification of the saints: and though their perseverance does not depend upon their comfort, for if they believe not, and are without comfort, God is faithful to his counsel, covenant, and promises, and will preserve and save them. However, this is certain, that the doctrine of the saints falling away from grace finally and totally is a very uncomfortable one, and therefore to be rejected. BOOK II. OF THE FINAL STATE OF MEN. OF THE DEATH OF THE BODY. THE death to be treated of, is not the death of the soul, which dies not, as will be seen hereafter; nor the moral or spiritual death, which has been discoursed of elsewhere; nor the death of the soul and body in hell, the second and eternal death; but the death of the body, in a strict and proper sense. The things to be enquired into, are, What death is? who the subjects of it? what the causes of it, and its properties? I. What death is. To say what it is, is difficult; we know nothing of it practically and experimentally, though there are continual instances of it before our eyes; our friends and relations, who have gone through this dark passage, have not returned to us to tell us what they met with in it; nor what they felt when the parting stroke was given; nor We know nothing of death but what they were surprised into at once. in theory; it is defined by some a cessation of the motion of the heart, and of the circulation of the blood, and of the flow of the animal spirits, occasioned by some defects in the organs and fluids of the body: no doubt such a cessation follows upon death, and such the effects of it; but what it is, is chiefly to be known from the Scripture, by which we learn,- 1. That it is a disunion of the soul and body, the two constituent parts of man; the one consists of flesh, blood and bones, of arteries, veins, nerves, &c. and goes by the general name of flesh; and the other is a spiritual substance, immaterial and immortal, and consists of several powers and faculties, as the understanding, will, and affections, and goes by the name of spirit: between these two there is a nexus, or bond which unites them together; though what that is none can tell; this puzzles all philosophy, to say by what bands and ligaments things of such a different nature as matter and spirit be, should be coupled and fastened together. Now death is a dissolution of this union, a separaThe body without the spirit xwpis tion of those two parts in man. separate from it, is dead, James ii. 26; when that is removed, the body is left a lifeless lump of clay. 2. It is a dissolving this earthly house of our tabernacle, 2 Cor. v. 1; the body is compared to a tabernacle, N 2 2 Cor. v. 4; in allusion either to military tents or tabernacles, pitched by soldiers when they encamp; or to those of shepherds, which were removed from place to place for the sake of pasturage for their flocks, by which the brevity of human life is expressed, Isa. xxxviii. 12; such tents or tabernacles were commonly made of hair-cloth, stretched upon and fastened to stakes with cords or pins, and the body and its several parts are fastened together with various cords: we read of a silver cord, which is loosed at death, Eccl. xii. 6; which whether it means the bond of union between the soul and body in general, or some particular part and ligament of the body about which interpreters are not agreed, is not easy to say. However, besides what compacts the joints together, there are certain fibres or small cords, like threads, by which those parts are fastened, on which life mostly depends; there are certain valves of the veins through which the blood is discharged into the heart, which are fastened to the sides of the ventricles of it with many tendinous fibres to secure them when they are shut; which fibres are fastened to some protuberances or pins of the sides of the heart; now in case one of these valves should be out of order, and unfit to perform its function; yea if one of these little fibres which are fastened to them should break, or be either too short or too long to do their service, the tabernacle would fall down at once: on such slender things hangs the life of every man. Now death is a pulling up the stakes of this tabernacle, the body; a loosening and breaking its cords; an unpinning it, a taking it down as it were by parts, and laying it aside for a time.-3. It is signified by a departure out of this world to another; so the death of Christ and some others is expressed in such language, John xiii. 1, 2 Tim. iv. 7; it is like going from one house to another with the saints, it is a departure from their earthly house to a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; from houses of clay which have their foundation in the dust, to everlasting habitations, to mansions in Christ's Father's house. It is like loosing from the port, as the sailor's phrase is; and launching into the ocean, and sailing to another port; the port loosed or departed from at death, is this world, which some loose from willingly, others not so; the port or haven to which saints are bound, is heaven, the heavenly and better country, to which desired haven they arrive at death, and by death. Death is the ship or boat which wafts them over to the shores of eternity. The heathens had by tradition notions somewhat similar to these, though more coarse; for who has not heard of the Elysian fields, the Stygian lake, and old Charon's boat? by which are represented death's wafting men over the black lake to fields of pleasure. But these images stand in a more beautiful light in the sacred pages; where the saints are represented as quietly wafted over the swellings of Jordan to the land of Canaan, a land of rest and pleasure. 4. Death is expressed by going the way of all the earth; so said Joshua when about to die, behold this day I am going the way of all the earth, Josh. xxiii. 14, and so said David, 1 Kings ii. 2; it is a going; so Christ describes his death, Luke xxii. 22; it is a going a journey, to a man's long home; it is a going from hence, from this iSee Nieuwentyt's Religious Philosopher, vol. i. contempl. 6, s. 7, 8, p. 77-79. OF THE DEATH OF THE BODY. world, and a going whither we shall not return any more to this world to be and live in it as formerly; it is going to an invisible state, to the world of spirits, of which we have now but little knowledge, and very imperfect conceptions; the way lies through a dark valley, but God is the guide of his people through it; he is not only their guide unto death, but through it safe to glory; and this is the way all men go and must go; it is a common track, a beaten path, and yet unknown by us; all must tread it, none can avoid it.-5. Death is called, a returning to the dust and earth of which the body is formed, Eccl. xii. 7: the body is originally made of earth and dust; and whilst it is in life, it is nothing but dust and ashes, as Abraham confessed he was; and when it dies it turns to dust, Gen. iii. 19; the body at death is turned into corruption, rottenness and dust; it is interred in the earth, and mixes with it, and becomes that; which is an humbling consideration to proud man, who if he looks back to his original, it is dust; if he considers himself in the present life, he is no other than a heap of dust; and if he looks forward to this last end, it will be the dust of death; his honour, in every view of himself, is laid in the dust; and this shows the knowledge and power of God in raising the dead, who knows where their dust lies, and will collect it together, and raise it up at the last day.-6. Death is frequently 'expressed by sleeping, Dan. xxii. 2, John xi. 11; and is so called because sleep is an image and representation of death; in sleep the and are useless for a time, as in death a man is senses are locked up wholly deprived of them; sleep is but for a short time, and so is death; after sleep a man rises, and being refreshed by it is more fit for labour; so is death to the saints; it is a rest unto them; and they will rise in the morning of the resurrection, fresh, lively and active, and more fit for divine and spiritual exercises. II. Who are the subjects of death. Not angels, for they being simple, uncompounded, incorporeal and immaterial, are incapable of death; they die not, Luke xx. 36; but men, even all men, a few only excepted, as Enoch and Elijah, under the Old Testament; the one was translated that he should not see death, the other was taken up to heaven soul and body in a chariot and horses of fire; and those saints that will be found alive at Christ's second coming, who will not die but be changed: otherwise all men die; all flesh is grass, every man is withering, mortal, dying, and dies; all have sinned, and so death comes upon all men.-1. Persons of every sex, male and female; of every age, young and old, small and great; some die in infancy, who have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression; some in childhood, others in youth; some in the prime of their days and in their full strength; and some in old age, and those that live the longest yet die, as Methuselah, the oldest man did. Look over the account of the antediluvian Patriarchs, Gen. v; there it may be observed, that at the close of the account of each it is said, he died; and such an one lived eight hundred years and odd and he died; and such an one lived nine hundred and odd, and he died. - 2. Of every rank and class and condition in life, high and low, rich and poor; kings die as well as their subjects: Job wishes he had died as soon as born, then he had been with kings years and counsellors of the earth, and with princes whose houses had been III. The causes of death, on what account it comes upon men, and to whom and what it is to be ascribed. I. The efficient cause is God, who is the sovereign disposer of life and death; it is he that gives life and breath, and all things to his creatures; life is a favour granted by him to men, and he upholds their souls in life; and since he is the author, giver and supporter of life, he may with propriety be called the God of their lives; and he that gives life has only a right to take it away; and he is a sovereign being and may do it at his pleasure; and he has particularly expressed his sovereignty in this instance, saying, I kill, and I make alive, Deut. xxxii. 39; he is |