Use of These Things

But for the Vse of these things.

Some evil desires are hence rebuked and condemned. Especially two sorts of desires.

First, impatient desires of death are to be reproved.

Something is to be said by way of concession; and something by way of correction about such desires.

First by way of concession, I would say; there are some desires of death well-becoming a child of God. Such were the desires of Paul, in (Philippians 1:22): I desire to be dissolved and be with Christ. When we think of the day, in which we shall go to the the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant; when we think of the day in which the Lord will deliver us from the hand of all our enemies, and from the hand of sin; O the thoughts of it should fill our souls with raptures of joy! They should cause our hearts to leap and spring within us. It is an allowable thing to be almost angry with Time, to call upon slow Time, and say, Fly apace, fly away, O Time; Come, O Eternity, come and fetch me into the presence of the Lord. The visions of the Lord Jesus may cause us to say humbly with aged, faithful Simeon, Lord, let your servant depart in peace. The chariots of death, sent by the Lord Jesus to fetch us to Himself should be as welcome to us, as the wagons of Joseph were to Jacob of old. It should cause us to rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory, when we think of the unspeakable joy and the full glory which we are going to. There are holy longings and lookings of soul, with which we may cry out, Why, why are His chariots so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels thereof?

But yet,

Secondly, by way of correction.

If these desires are with impatience, much more if they are through impatience, they become sinful before the Lord. The embittered spirits of Christians have been sometimes too prone to such desires. It was an inordinate passion in Moses, when a froward people under his charge provoked him to say, in (Numbers 17:14), Kill me, I pray you out of hand. Had God granted his desire, he had lost thirty years of eminent service in the world. It was an irregular passion in Elias, when the persecutions of wicked men so tired him, as to make him say, in (1 Kings 19:4), O Lord, take away my life. It has been an observation, that many good and great men sit under Elias's juniper tree. As culpable was the passion of Jonah, when the withering of a gourd had that effect upon him in chapter 4:8, he wished to die. The like pang of impatience, did that pattern of patience, Job, fall into; he spoke as if he could hardly forbear laying violent hands upon himself. Even so far do the distempered, unbridled wishes of many run. Their desire of death is a sort of revenge on God; they would as it were deprive God of the glory which He might have of them. Compose these desires, O you raging souls; compose these desires. Allay this fever, this phrensy. It is not only an irreligious but an unnatural passion which you are carried away withal. You desire to die — well, are you sure that the death which you desire now, will not prove a death which you shall deplore throughout eternal ages? It is said of the believer in (Psalm 91:19), With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation. It is a very disordered heart that will be dissatisfied with so great a mercy.

Secondly, unsanctified desires of life are to be reproved also. Of these desires there are three sorts to be reprehended.

There are, first, carnal desires of life to be blamed. Some desire to live, and therefore is it? It is because they desire to eat and drink and be merry. They cannot part with such relations and possessions as are here to be enjoyed. The comforts of life are the things that cause their desires of life. One once beholding his fine accommodations made this reflection thereupon, Haec faciunt invitos mori — these are the things that make us unwilling to die. Unmortified corruptions are the causes of these desires. Remember what the Lord has said in (Matthew 10:37), He that loves father or mother, or son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. Thus may the Lord well say to the subject of these desires, If you had rather be with your friends on earth, than with your Father in Heaven, you are not worthy to be with me at all. And this by the way is to be said of them that desire the life of their friends as well as of themselves. It is for the interest of the Lord Jesus Christ that the dead children which you lament are dead; or else they had not died at all. Now says the Lord Jesus, If you love those children, those relations more than me, and would rather have them with yourself, to my prejudice, than to have them with me, to your own bereavement, you are not worthy to have them with me at all.

Secondly, there are careful desires of life to be likewise blamed. Many desire to live only upon this account, some child, or some charge they are concerned for. They have this or that child which they cannot believe will be well provided for, when they are dead; or they suspect what will become of such or such a charge. There is indeed a desire of life on such a score, which is not always very severely to be found fault withal. But oftentimes there is too much distrust in such a desire. Why cannot we venture our families and the concernments thereof, in the hands of the faithful God? The Lord has said in (Jeremiah 49:11), Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive. And he still says, I will be a better Father, and a better Friend to them, than you yourself can be.

Thirdly, there are fearful desires of life which are blameworthy too. When death comes with that message, Set your soul in order, for you shall die and not live, many persons are so terrified as to be even at their wits' ends. O how they groan. I cannot die! Indeed sinners that have not been born twice may well tremble to die once; nobody can blame them; there is a second death, ready to seize upon the forlorn souls that are not regenerate. But such as have been truly turned to God in Christ, should not entertain death with such reluctancies. Can you not uprightly say, that if you were sure to be freed from sin, you could be content to be struck by death? O then, be cheerfully willing to die. Your soul will no sooner pass into eternity but it shall experience that thing in (Romans 6:7), He that is dead is freed from sin. It is often pretended by men, I would live because I would be more holy before I die. It is well; but there is not seldom a deceit in the pretence; often something else is in the bottom; a rebellion against the will of God. Would you really and earnestly be holy? Be willing then to die as well as to live. Death is the way to holiness in the perfection of it. In short: good was the temper of that sick person who being asked, Which do you desire, to live, or to die? answered, I refer it to God; and when it was again said, But suppose God should refer it to you? replied, I would then refer it to him again.