died, lift up his eyes there in flames of fire, in everlasting torment. Death is the ship or boat in which men are wafted over from the fhore of this world to the banks of another; angels are the pilots to good men, who convey them over the fwellings of Jordan, and bring them to their defired baven, to Canaan's land: devi' are the pilots and convoy of others, who carry them over the black lake to regions of darkness. The heathens had some fuch like notions of death and of a future state, and expreffed their ideas in fuch like language as this. Who is it almost that has not heard of the Elfian fields, which have their name from a word, of which this in our text is compounded, the feat of the fouls of good men after death? and of the Stygian lake, and of old Charon and his boat, the ferryman of hell?

2dly, The word here ufed alfo fignifies to return; and fo it is rendered in Luke xii. 36. and by the Vulgate Latin verfion here, and by others, and which agrees with the account the wife man gives of death; who fays, Then fhall the duft return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit fhall return to God who gave it : the body, which was firft formed out of the duft of the earth, at death returns to its original; whereby the divine fentence paffed on fallen man is verified, duft thou art, and unto duft shalt thou return: and the spirit or foul, which God is the father and maker of, returns to him who gave it; it being, by him, to be judged for the things done in its body, and to be fent by him to its proper place and ftate, either of eternal bliss or endless wo: death is the reversion, or returning of the parts of man, when separated by it, to their original from whence they came.

3dly, We render it to depart, as many others do; it was usual with the * Jews to express death by a departure; and the apoftle uses the fame way of fpeaking, in conformity to his countrymen: fo our Lord's death is called a departing out of the world, and a leaving of it and going to the Father, John xiii. 1. and xvi. 28. And the apostle Paul calls the time of his death the time of his departure, 2 Tim. iv. 7. which he speaks of with pleasure. Some go out of this world willingly and chearfully, and are defirous of it, as the apostle was here; others are chased out of it, driven away in their wickedness, as a beaft out of a pasture where it ought not to be, Job xviii. 18.

It is an ufual way of speaking with us, when we would fignify that any one is dead, to fay he has departed this life; there is the life that now is, the life we live in the flesh, and there is the life to come; the present life is a transitory one, it is, as James fays, even a vapour that appeareth for a little while, and then vanisbeth

Elyfium eft ubi piorum animæ habitant, poft corporis animæque difcretione unde & interitus dicitur res inter animam & corpus veniens: ergo Ely fium; & año тns Avortwe, nam fic diffinitur mors Juxnsx) owμal Avis, Servius in Virgil. Æneid. 1. 5. P. 973. h Eccles. xii. 7. Gen. iii.19.

* See my notes on Job xiii. 1. and on Phil. i. 23.

nifheth away: death is a departing this life; and when a good man departs out of it, he enters into another, even into eternal life.

When a man dies, he departs from his relations, friends and acquaintance, and they see him no more; the place where he lived, and the men of it, know him no more; he returns no more to this prefent world, into this frail mortal ftate: his friends shall go to him, but he shall not return to them, as David said of his child; and at the refurrection-morn there will be a glorious meeting of the faints, when they fhall come together, both living and raised ones, and shall ne ver part more, but fhall be together for ever with Chrift.

Death is, as it were, no other with the faints, than a departing or removing from one house to another, from the earthly house of this tabernacle, the body, to the boufe not made with hands, eternal in the heavens: from houfes of clay which have their foundation in the duft, to everlasting habitations, to thofe mansions of joy and blifs, which are in Chrift's Father's house.

Now all this may ferve to make death easy and familiar to us, and take off from the terror which it naturally induceth; it is but like going from one house to another, and that a better, an house in heaven; from one city to another, and that a better, a city which has foundations, whofe builder and maker is the great God; from one country to another, and that a better, even an heavenly one. So Job fpeaks of death in fuch language as this, and to fuch a purpose, to render it more agreeable to him; if I wait, the grave is my houfe: I have made my bed in the darkness: I have faid to corruption, Thou art my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother and my fifter, Job xvii. 13, 14.

And from this account of death, it may be obferved, that it is not an annihi-lation of man; it is an analysis of human nature, a separation and difunion of its parts, foul and body, but neither of them cease to be; the foul exifts in a feparate state, either of happinefs or mifery; and the body is reduced to duft, yet not to nothing though it is crumbled into ten thousand atoms and more, yet it is ftill in being; though it is, like a tabernacle, taken down, and its parts feparated, yet these are carefully laid up to be put together in a more beautiful form and order; though man at death looses from one shore and port, he is prefently at another; and though he goes out of one world, he is in another; though he is not here, he is elfewhere: it is faid of fome, that they were not, as Enoch and Rachel's children, Gen. v. 24. Jer. xxxi. 15. but the meaning is, not that they were not in being, but that they were not on earth; they were taken from thence, and were with God. I proceed,

II. To confider the defire the apostle had of departing or dying; having a défire· to depart which phrafe, as a learned man obferves", fignifies, a vehement-and

perpetual defire; it was not a mere velleity, that rofe up in his mind, a cold and faint wish in his breast, but a strong impulse upon him, a passionate defire to be gone; nor was it a new defire, a fudden start of mind, but what he had had a long time, and which grew stronger and stronger; nor was it carnal and finful, but spiritual, not from nature but from grace; for,

ift, He did not defire fimply to die, or defire dying for the fake of death, but for fome other end here mentioned to defire death, fimply confidered, is contrary to nature; contrary to a first principle in nature, felf-prefervation: all men naturally desire to live: what man is be that defireth life"? every man does; he will do, or fuffer, or part with any thing, to keep that: true it is, what Satan said, skin for skin, yea, all that a man bath, will be give for his life: when human nature was innocent and finless, nothing was more disagreeable to it than death; wherefore, to keep man in awe of his maker, and fix in him an attention to his will, and preferve him in his obedience to him, death was made the fanction of the law that was given him; therefore when our first parents were tempted to eat of the forbidden fruit, the greateft fence they had against the temptation, and the strongest objection to a compliance with it, was, God bath said, ye fhall not eat of it, neither fhall ye touch it, left ye die: and the devil had no other way of answering and removing this objection, than by afferting a downright falfhood, and contradicting the exprefs word of God, faying, ye shall not furely die P. Even in the finless human nature of Christ there was a defire of life, and an aversion to death: as fuch he prayed to be saved from the hour of death, and that its bitter cup might pass from him; it is true, his death was attended with fuch circumstances as made it terrible indeed; he had all the fins of his people on him, and suffered in their room and stead, and bore the wrath of God; and endured the whole curfe of the law, and all the punishment due to their fins; and therefore it is no wonder that his human nature, left to itself, should shudder and shrink at it; yet it feems that death itself, as fuch, was disagreeable to it; though he corrects his defire of life, and fubmits his request to the divine will, John xii. 27. Matt. xxvi. 39.

Death is not in itself a real good, and therefore not to be defired in itself; yea, it is an evil, a penal evil; it was threatened in cafe of fin, and is inflicted as a punishment of it; the wages of fin is death: and on the other hand, life, and a continuance of it, long life, has been always esteemed a bleffing; and is promised as an encouragement to obedience'. Death is the fruit and effect of fin; it entered into the world by it, and has fet up its empire through it: it reigns over men witi. an uncontroulable power and authority; it is a king, and a king of terrors';

nisheth away1: death is a departing this life; and when a good man departs out of it, he enters into another, even into eternal life.

When a man dies, he departs from his relations, friends and acquaintance, and they see him no more; the place where he lived, and the men of it, know him no more; he returns no more to this prefent world, into this frail mortal ftate his friends fhall go to him, but he fhall not return to them, as David said of his child; and at the refurrection-morn there will be a glorious meeting of the faints, when they fhall come together, both living and raised ones, and fhall ne ver part more, but fhall be together for ever with Chrift.

Death is, as it were, no other with the faints, than a departing or removing from one house to another, from the earthly house of this tabernacle, the body, to the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens: from houfes of clay which have their foundation in the duft, to everlasting habitations, to thofe mansions of joy and blifs, which are in Chrift's Father's house.

Now all this may ferve to make death easy and familiar to us, and take off from the terror which it naturally induceth; it is but like going from one house to another, and that a better, an houfe in heaven; from one city to another, and that a better, a city which has foundations, whofe builder and maker is the great God; from one country to another, and that a better, even an heavenly one. So Job fpeaks of death in fuch language as this, and to fuch a purpose, to render it more agreeable to him; if I wait, the grave is my houfe: I have made my bed in the darkness: I have faid to corruption, Thou art my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother and my fifter, Job xvii. 13, 14.

And from this account of death, it may be obferved, that it is not an annihilation of man; it is an analyfis of human nature, a feparation and difunion of its parts, foul and body, but neither of them cease to be; the foul exifts in a fepa-rate state, either of happinefs or mifery; and the body is reduced to dust, yet not to nothing: though it is crumbled into ten thousand atoms and more, yet it is ftill in being; though it is, like a tabernacle, taken down, and its parts feparated, yet these are carefully laid up to be put together in a more beautiful form: and order; though man at death loofes from one shore and port, he is prefently at another; and though he goes out of one world, he is in another; though he is not here, he is elsewhere it is faid of fome, that they were not, as Enoch and Rachel's children, Gen. v. 24. Jer. xxxi. 15. but the meaning is, not that they were not in being, but that they were not on earth; they were taken from thence, and were with God. I proceed,

IL. To confider the defire the apoftle had of departing or dying; having a désire to departy which phrafe, as a learned man obferves", fignifies, a vehement-and

perpetual:

1 James iv. 14.

m Zanchy in loc.

perpetual defire; it was not a mere velleity, that rofe up in his mind, a cold and faint with in his breast, but a strong impulfe upon him, a paffionate defire to be gone; nor was it a new defire, a fudden start of mind, but what he had had a long time, and which grew ftronger and stronger; nor was it carnal and finful, but spiritual, not from nature but from grace; for,

ift, He did not defire fimply to die, or defire dying for the fake of death, but for fome other end here mentioned: to defire death, fimply confidered, is contrary to nature; contrary to a first principle in nature, self-preservation: all men naturally desire to live: what man is he that defireth life"? every man does; he will do, or fuffer, or part with any thing, to keep that: true it is, what Satan faid, fkin for skin, yea, all that a man bath, will be give for his life: when hu man nature was innocent and finlefs, nothing was more difagreeable to it than death; wherefore, to keep man in awe of his maker, and fix in him an attention to his will, and preferve him in his obedience to him, death was made the fanction of the law that was given him; therefore when our first parents were tempted to eat of the forbidden fruit, the greatest fence they had against the temptation, and the strongest objection to a compliance with it, was, God hath said, ye fball not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, left ye die: and the devil had no other way of answering and removing this objection, than by afferting a downright falfhood, and contradicting the exprefs word of God, faying, ye shall not furely die P. Even in the finless human nature of Christ there was a defire of life, and an averfion to death: as fuch he prayed to be saved from the hour of death, and that its bitter cup might pafs from him; it is true, his death was attended with fuch circumstances as made it terrible indeed; he had all the fins of his people on him, and suffered in their room and stead; and bore the wrath of God; and endured the whole curfe of the law, and all the punishment due to their fins; and therefore it is no wonder that his human nature, left to itself, fhould shudder and shrink at it; yet it seems that death itself, as fuch, was disagreeable to it; though he corrects his defire of life, and fubmits his requeft to the divine will, John xii. 27. Matt. xxvi. 39.

Death is not in itself a real good, and therefore not to be defired in itself; yea, it is an evil, a penal evil; it was threatened in cafe of fin, and is inflicted as a punishment of it; the wages of fin is death: and on the other hand, life, and a continuance of it, long life, has been always esteemed a bleffing; and is promised as an encouragement to obedience'. Death is the fruit and effect of fin; it entered into the world by it, and has fet up its empire through it: it reigns over men with an uncontroulable power and authority; it is a king, and a king of terrors';