A Body of Practical Divinity

Use 1. See what little cause Believers have to fear Death, when it brings such glorious Benefits, To me to Dye is Gain. Why should the Saints fear their Preferment? ⟨p. 234⟩Is it not a blessed thing to see God, to love God, and to lye for ever in the Bosom of Divine Love? Is it not a blessed thing to meet our Godly Relations in Heaven? Why should the Saints be afraid of their Blessings? Is a Virgin afraid to be matched into the Crown? Now is but the Contract, at Death is the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb, Rev. 19.9. What hurt doth Death but take us from among Fiery Serpents, and place us among Angels? What hurt doth it do, but to clothe us with a Robe of Immortality? Hath he any wrong done, that hath his Sack-Cloth pulled off, and hath Cloth of Gold put upon him? Fear not Dying, who cannot live but by Dying.

Use 1. See what little cause Believers have to fear Death, when it brings such glorious Benefits, To me to Dye is Gain. Why should the Saints fear their Preferment? ⟨p. 234⟩Is it not a blessed thing to see God, to love God, and to lye for ever in the Bosom of Divine Love? Is it not a blessed thing to meet our Godly Relations in Heaven? Why should the Saints be afraid of their Blessings? Is a Virgin afraid to be matched into the Crown? Now is but the Contract, at Death is the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb, Rev. 19.9. What hurt doth Death but take us from among Fiery Serpents, and place us among Angels? What hurt doth it do, but to cloath us with a Robe of Immortality? Hath he any wrong done, that hath his Sack-Cloath pull'd off, and hath Cloath of Gold put upon him? Fear not Dying, who cannot live but by Dying.

Use 2. You who are Real Saints, whose Hearts are purified by Faith, spend much time in musing upon these glorious Benefits which you shall have by Christ at Death. Thus might you by a Contemplative Life, begin the Life of Angels here, and be in Heaven before your time. Eudoxus was so affected with the Glory of the Sun, that he thought he was born only to behold it. What should we contemplate but Celestial Glory, when we shall see God Face to Face? David was got above the ordinary sort of Men, he was in the Altitudes, sal. 139.18. I am ever with thee. A true Saint every Day takes a turn in Heaven, his Thoughts and Desires are like Cherubims flying up to Paradise. Can Men of the World so delight in looking upon their Bags of Gold, and Fields of Corn, and shall not the Heirs of Heaven take more delight in Contemplating their Glory in Reversion? Could we send forth Faith as a Spy, and every Day view the Glory of the Jerusalem above, how would it rejoice us, as it doth the Heir, to think of the Inheritance which is to come into his Hand shortly?