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our leave of earthly things, as ere long we all must, we may have a humble assurance, that, in that future world, thou, our God, wilt be with us, and be our exceeding great reward: not of debt, but of thine infinite unmerited benignity, according to thy promises of mercy to us, by our Lord Jesus Christ!

March 18, 1780.

2G 2

SERMON

1

SERMON XXIII.

PHILIP. i. 23, 24.

For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

OUR apostle has been very generally thought in this passage to intimate that there would be an intermediate state of happiness for good men between death and the resurrection; and that he himself expected, immediately upon his departure out of this world, to be with Christ in a state of happiness. For that nothing but this could be the cause of his being in a strait betwixt life and death. Since, if death was to put him only in a state of sleep and insensibility, he could not have been so at a loss what to choose; for that, to so good and holy a man as St. Paul was, to continue here in this

world

world to serve Christ, must be vastly prefer able to a state, where he should lose all sense and capacity of doing such infinite good to mankind.

But I apprehend that, upon a stricter examination of the language and meaning of St. Paul, it will be found that he was not at all divided in his mind about what was eligible for himself, and what was useful in promoting the Gospel, and beneficial to others but his difficulties arose from another source; and this will best appear by considering his present situation, and what it was that he was discoursing of immediately before.

Now our apostle, at the time of writing this epistle, was a prisoner at Rome for the sake of the Gospel; and though, through the good providence of God, he had hitherto met with better treatment than he might have expected under the reign of such a monster as Nero; and had opportunity to bear open testimony to the divine truth of the Gospel, and with success even in the emperor's palace; yet he could have no dependence upon things continuing as they were, and he could not but be most uncertain what would be the issue of his present irksome confinement, with a soldier

holding the chain with which he was fettered night and day, whether it would be life or death.

But in the midst of all, he expresses with great modesty his readiness to do what honour he could to his divine Master Jesus, by promoting his truth:- -"my earnest expectation and hope (says hé, ver. 20, 21.) is, that in nothing I shall be ashamed; but that, in the most public manner, as always, so now also, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or death: For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain ;" i. e. to advance the Gospel is the great end I propose to myself, living or dying*.

(Ver.

*Phil. i. 21. quos yap] For if I live, christianity will be promoted by my labours and sufferings, and if I die, gain will arise (not to myself but to the cause) from the testimony of my blood. Ver. 22. & de] But whether it be worth while, on my own account, to live miserably rather than to die miserably, I really know not: they are both evils, and I know not which to choose. I am afflicted, held fast, and necessarily exposed to one or other of them; but my desire is to be freed from evil and to be with Christ: i.e. not immediately, but at his coming, which is better for myself, but to live is better for you.

"That being with Christ' relates to the day of judgement, is evident from 2 Tim. iv. 6. where avaλurews occurs, and

yet

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