Page:Great importance of a suitable preparation for death (1).pdf/5

( 5 ) of being with him above; “Whilſt I am preſent in the body, I am abſent from the Lord:” Therefore, I will never be at reſt, ſaith he, get what I will, until I get Chriſt, until I get thoſe naked and immediate embracements of that Piant of Renown, the Flower of the ſtock of Jesse, who is the light of the higher houſe, the eternal admiration of angels.

2. It is lawful to desire to die, when it floweth from the excellencies of heaven, from a deſire to partake of theſe excellent things that are there; this is clear, 2 Cor. v. 4. “We groan, being burdened;” or, as the word is, “We groan, as they who are preſſed under a heavy burden, that we may be clothed upon,” &c. What aileth you to groan ſo, Paul? O, faith he, I groan that mortality may be ſwallowed up of life.

3. It is lawful to deſire to die, when it floweth from a deſire to be ſaved from the body of death; and from theſe temptations that do aſſualt us; and from theſe oppreſſions whereunto we are ſubject by it.— Doubtleſs Paul deſired to die on this account, when he cried out, Rom. xii. 24. “O wretched man that I am ! Who ſhall deliver me from the body of this death?” He longed greatly for that day, whereon he ſhould be made white, “like the wings of a dove covered with, silver, whoſe