whither art thou now going? thou must now no more jest and sport, or enjoy thy sensual pleasures."* What a poor shift have some of them made to keep off the fears of death, by charging all about them not to mention it. Little advantage could it be to Herod the Great's putrefying body or lost soul, to have such a pompous funeral. His body was carried in a procession, from his palace at Jericho to the castle Herodion, going but each day eight furlongs, in a golden litter, set with precious stones, bearing cloth of purple, the body clothed with purple, a diadem on his head, over it a crown of gold, and a sceptre in his right hand,† &c. Alas, what is all this to the precious soul? William the Conqueror took more care of that in his blind age of devotion, for when he was dying, hearing the great bell ring prime to the virgin Mary, lifting up his hands, he said, I commend myself to that blessed lady Mary, mother of God, that she by her holy prayers may reconcile me to her most dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and with these words yielded up the ghost.‡ But I hope you have otherwise learned Christ, "and being reconciled to God by the death of his Son," you may now confidently say at death, "into thy hand I commend my spirit, thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." Certainly living and dying in the arms of our Lord, in the sense of covenant relation is the sweetest death; this was all David's salvation in his last and most earnest breathings of his soul, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Among the dying speeches of that holy man of God, Mr. Samuel Fairclough, these are observable, "Be careful to redeem time, get evidences of heaven betimes, for times of sickness and old age are times • Animula vagula, blandula quæ nunc abibis in loca? + Usher's Annals, A. M. 401, fol. 725. of considering, not of gaining such evidences, this work of preparing for eternity is only to be done by entering into covenant with God, and making peace through Christ, which if once sincerely done, neither sick bed nor death bed can do you the least hurt."* O, of what worth is a covenant God at all times, especially in a dying hour! when dying groans are regarded by a reconciled God, how såfe is the soul? and if that be safe all is safe. The covenant is a precious cordial to fainting saints in life, and a viand to a dying saint; and after death it will guide him into the presence of the great King. "Gather my saints together to me," saith God in my text; they shall be gathered to their fathers by death, they shall sleep in Jesus till the resurrection, and then he will send his "angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather toge ther his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other," † and being gathered before him, he will say to those "on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;"‡ not one saint shall be missing though never so obscure, not a member of his body wanting, nor a particle of their dust, "but the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord; wherefore comfort one another with these words." " || Yes, saith the doubting soul, there is comfort enough for those that are savingly in covenant; and were I sure of this, I should be satisfied; but here lies my suspicion. This leads me to the Second Branch of encouragement to covenanted • Mr. Clark's Lives. + Matt. xxiv. 31. Matt. xxv. 31, 34. 1 Thess. iv. 16-18. souls, which is a solution of doubts, which are raised by pious souls in this case. 1. There may be doubt concerning the measure of knowledge necessary to form a covenant engagement, and needful afterwards for performing the terms thereof. The ground of the doubt is this: the Christian hears he must enter this covenant with understanding and judgment; but alas, saith the soul, I find myself very ignorant, and unapprehensive of divine things, I am sure I am under many mistakes: how may I know that I have that knowledge which is essential to a due covenanting with God? I answer, you must ascertain the difference between a knowledge objectively considered, relating to the things known, and subjectively, which refers to the manner of knowing them. (1.) As to the objects, or things to be known, of which, as the essentials of religion are few, a hypocrite's knowledge may be as extensive and comprehensive as a child of God's; however, I hope you understand in what state God made man, and how he fell; you know something of man's woful state by the fall, which hath cast you under God's wrath and curse, according to the broken covenant of works, and that there is no relief or remedy within the compass of the whole creation, Jesus Christ being the only Redeemer and Saviour of mankind. You know something of Christ's conception, nativity, life, his natures-as God and man; his offices, as Mediator, prophet, priest, and king; his death and sufferings, his resurrection, his ascension, session at God's right hand, intercession, and coming to judgment. You know on what terms he calls you to embrace his religion, namely, to forsake all, return to God by sincere repentance, lay hold on Christ by sincere faith, and resolve to be obedient to his blessed will: and you understand something of the privileges of those who are in covenant with God, such as pardon of all your sins, reconciliation with God, adoption to be his children, communion with God, hearing your prayers, interest in the promises, and eternal salvation. You know something of these, no mortal knows them adequately; you will still be defective, for a finite capacity cannot have an infinite apprehension of an infinite being: * "These are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him?" Job xxvi. 14: you will still be learning the things of God. (2.) You must rather study the nature, properties, and effects of your knowledge; consider deliberately, whether it be distinct, sensible, appreciative, experimental, what influence it has upon your souls. The illumination of the sanctified Spirit discovers spiritual truths powerfully, convincingly, efficaciously, bringing the soul into obedience thereto; this is to know the truth as it is in Jesus, when the heart is warmed with "the love of the truth ;" and as the sun hath a prolific and quickening virtue, to beget life, so divine truths come with authority, awing conscience, and with efficacy producing faith, love, and cheerful obedience. Art thou really ashamed of thine own ignorance, and like David and Agur, call thyself a fool and brutish ?‡ Art thou faithful to the knowledge thou hast, in following the light and acting accordingly?|| Dost thou ply the throne of grace for more? Prayer puts thee under God's tuition; God gives wisdom to all that ask, * Apprehendimus infinitum sub ratione infiniti, sed non infinitè.-Weems's Portr. pag. 90. Omne receptum est in reci piente, non per modum recepti, sed per modum recipientis. + Eph. iv. 21. 2 Thess. ii. 10. Psalm lxxiii. 22. Prov. xxx. 2, 3. John vii. 17. [anλs] graciously or liberally,* not like a proud man, who will rather put a person who is weak to shame, for his ignorance, than take pains to teach him; and though all be not Solomons in knowledge, yet such as submit to the orders of God's school, shall be so furnished with saving knowledge as to fit them for admittance into heaven's college. God engages in this new covenant, that "all shall know him from the least to the greatest, that they shall be all taught of God." + Hast thou learned this lesson "of the Father, to come to Christ ?" This is the great gospel lesson. Dost thou experimentally feel the evil of sin? Art thou sick at heart? longing for the Physician, and cordially submitting to his prescriptions? And though thou know something of him, yet art thou making this thy aim, still to "know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, and to be made conformable to his death?" || Dost thou then lament thy ignorance, dig for knowledge, set open thy windows for further light, use God's means humbly, and for right ends? Thou mayest be in covenant with God. 2. There may be doubt concerning degrees of humiliation. I hear, say you, that a true covenanter humbles himself for former sins, and with a due sense of heart-vileness; but in this I am exceedingly defective, I have been a great sinner, and ought to humble myself greatly, as Manasseh did, § but I am afraid I have not yet attained to an ordinary degree of humiliation. Ans. (1.) Dream not of such humiliation as will bear proportion to thy sins; that is a legal conceit once to imagine it, and it is impossible to attain it. Sin is an infinite evil, as to the object against whom it 1sa. liv. 13. James i. 5. ‡ John vi. 45. + Jer. xxxi. 34. § 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12. |