TßECONQUEST O4$A DkATN. jnrsc. r. SECTION L Death an enemy even to good men. The first enquiry is, how, or in what sense death appears to be an enemy to the saints? That it is in general an enemy to human nature, is sufficiently evident from its first introduction into the world ; for it was brought in as an execution of the first threatening given to Adam in paradise, Gen. ii. I7. °G In the day thou eatest thou shalt die." It came in as a punishment for sin, and every punishment in some re- spect opposes our interest, and our happiness. When it seized on man at first, and planted the seeds of mortality in 'his nature, hé then began to be deprived of that peace and health, that vigour and immortality which he pos- sessed before his fall, till at last it brought him down to the dust; and ever since, all the sons of Adam have found and felt it an enemy to their natures. To sinners indeed it is an enemy in amore dreadful sense, and its attendants are more terrible a thousand- fold. For besides all the common miseries of the flesh which they sustain, it delivers over their spirits into ever- lasting misery, it finishes their reprieve and their hope for ever ; it plunges them at once into all the terrors of a most awakened conscience, and cuts them off from all the amusements and cares of this life, which laid their guilt and their conscience asleep for a season. Death consigns over a sinner to the chains of the grave, and the chains of hell together, and binds and reserves him a pri- soner of despair for the most complete torments of the second de ith. But I would confine my discourse here only to be- lievers, for it is with respect to them this chapter is writ- ten. I know death is often called their friend, because it puts an end to their sins and sorrows; but this benefit arises only from the covenant of grace, which sanctifies it to some good purposes to the children of God. It is constrained to become their friend in some instances, contrary to its own nature and its original design : But there is reason enough, if we take a survey of its own na- ture, and its present appearances, to call it an enemy soli, upon these following accounts
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