Of the death of the body
John Gill
The death to be treated of, is
not the death of the soul, which dies not, as will be seen hereafter; nor the
moral or spiritual death, which has been discoursed of elsewhere; nor the death
of the soul and body in hell, the second and eternal death: but, the death of the body, in a strict and proper sense. The things to
be enquired into, are what death is? who the subjects of it? what the causes of
it, and its properties?
1. First, what death is. To
say what it is, is difficult; we know nothing of it practically and
experimentally, though there are continual instances of it before our eyes; our friends and relations, who have gone through this
dark passage, have not returned to us to tell us what they met with in it; nor
what they felt when the parting stroke was given; nor what they were surprised
into at once. We know nothing of death but in theory; it is defined by some a
cessation of the motion of the heart, and of the circulation of the blood, and
of the flow of the animal spirits, occasioned by some
defects in the organs and fluids of the body: no doubt such a cessation follows
upon death, and such the effects of it; but what it is, is chiefly to be known
from the scripture, by which we learn,
1a. That it is a disunion of
the soul and body, the two constituent parts of man; the one
consists of flesh, blood and bones, of arteries, veins, nerves, &c. and
goes by the general name of "flesh"; and the other is a spiritual
substance, immaterial and immortal, and consists of several powers and
faculties, as the understanding, will, and affections, and goes by the name of
"spirit"; see #Mt 26:41 between these two there is a nexus, or bond,
which unites them together; though what that is none can tell;
this puzzles all philosophy, to say by what bands and ligaments things of such
a different nature as matter and spirit be, should be coupled and fastened
together. Now death is a dissolution of this union, a separation of those two
parts in man {1}. The "body without the spirit", cwriv, separate from
it, "is dead", #Jas 2:26 when that is removed, the body is left a
lifeless lump of clay.
1b. It is a dissolving this
earthly house of our tabernacle, #2Co 5:1 the body is compared to a tabernacle,
as is the body of Christ, of Peter and others, #Heb 8:2 2Pe 1:13 2Co 5:4 in
allusion either to military tents or tabernacles, pitched by soldiers when they
encamp; or to those of shepherds, which were removed from place to place for the sake of pasturage for their flocks, by which the
brevity of human life is expressed, #Isa 38:12 such tents or tabernacles were
commonly made of haircloth, stretched upon and fastened to stakes with cords or
pins, as allusions to them show, #Isa 33:20 54:2 and the body and its various
parts are fastened together with various cords; we read of a "silver
cord", which is loosed at death, #Ec 12:6 which whether
it means the bond of union between the soul and body in general, or some
particular part and ligament of the body about which interpreters are not
agreed, is not easy to say. However, besides what compacts the joints together,
there are certain fibres or small cords, like threads, by which those parts are
fastened on which life mostly depends; there are certain valves of the veins
through which the blood is discharged into the heart, which
are fastened to the sides of the ventricles of it with many tendinous fibres to
secure them when they are shut; which fibres are fastened to some protuberances
or "pins" of the sides of the heart: now in case one of these valves
should be out of order, and unfit to perform its function; yea if one of these
little fibres which are fastened to them should "break", or be either
too short or too long to do their service, the tabernacle
would fall down at once: on such slender things hangs the life of every man,
even of the greatest monarch upon the throne, as well as of the meanest peasant
{2}. Now death is a pulling up the stakes of this tabernacle, the body; a
loosening and breaking its cords; an unpinning it, a taking it down as it were
by parts, and laying it aside for a time.
1c. It is signified by a
departure out of this world to another: so the death of Christ and some others
is expressed in such language, #Joh 13:1 Lu 2:29 Php 1:23 2Ti 4:7 it is like
going from one house to another: with the saints, it is a departure from their
earthly house to an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; from houses of clay, which have their foundation in the dust, to
everlasting habitations, to mansions in Christ's Father's house. It is like
loosing from the port, as the sailor's phrase is; see #Ac 13:3 27:13 28:11 and
launching into the ocean, and sailing to another port; the port loosed or
departed from at death, is this world, which some loose from willingly, others
not so; the port or haven to which saints are bound, is heaven,
the heavenly and better country, to which desired haven they arrive at death,
and by death. Death is the ship or boat which wafts them over to the shores of
eternity. The heathens had by tradition notions somewhat similar to these,
though more coarse; for who has not heard of the Elysian fields, the Stygian
lake, and old Charon's boat? by which are represented death's wafting men over
the black lake to fields of pleasure. But these images stand
in a more beautiful light in the sacred pages; where the saints are represented
as quietly wafted over the swellings of Jordan to the land of Canaan, a land of
rest and pleasure.
1d. Death is expressed by
going the way of all the earth; so said Joshua when about to
die, "Behold this day I am going the way of all the earth", #Jos
23:14 and so said David, #1Ki 2:2 it is a "going"; so Christ
describes his death, #Lu 22:22 it is a going a journey, to a man's long home;
it is a going from "hence", from this world, and a going
"whither" we shall not return any more to this world to be and live
in it as formerly; it is going to an invisible state, to the world of spirits,
of which we now have but little knowledge, and very
imperfect conceptions; see #Ps 39:13 Job 10:21,22 the way lies through a dark
valley, but God is the guide of his people through it; he is not only their
guide unto death, but through it safe to glory; and this is the way all men go
and must go; it is a common track {3}, a beaten path, and yet unknown by us;
all must tread it, none can avoid it.
1e. Death is called, a
returning to the dust and earth of which the body is formed, #Ec 12:7 the body
is originally made of earth and dust; and while it is in life, it is nothing
but dust and ashes, as Abraham confessed he was; and when it dies it turns to
dust, #Ge 3:19 the body at death is turned into corruption, rottenness, and
dust; it is interred in the earth, and mixes with it, and
becomes that; which is an humbling consideration to proud man, who if he looks
back to his original, it is dust; if he considers himself in the present life,
he is no other than a heap of dust; and if he looks forward to his last end, it
will be the dust of death; his honour, in every view of himself, is laid in the
dust; and this shows the knowledge and power of God in raising
the dead, who knows where their dust lies, and will collect it together, and
raise it up at the last day.
1f. Death is frequently
expressed by sleeping, #Da 12:2 Joh 11:11 #1Th 4:14 and is so called because
sleep is an image and representation of death {4}; in sleep the senses are locked up and are useless for a time, as in death a
man is wholly deprived of them; sleep is but for a short time, and so is death;
after sleep a man rises, and being refreshed by it is more fit for labour; so
is death to the saints; it is a rest unto them; and they will rise in the
morning of the resurrection, fresh, lively, and active, and more fit for divine
and spiritual exercises.
2. Secondly, who are the
subjects of death. Not "angels", for they being simple, uncompounded,
incorporeal, and immaterial, are incapable of death; they "die not",
#Lu 20:36 but men, even all men, a few only excepted, as Enoch and Elijah,
under the Old Testament; the one was translated that he should not see death,
the other was taken up to heaven soul and body in a chariot
and horses of fire; and those saints that will be found alive at Christ's
second coming, who will not die but be changed: otherwise all men die;
"all flesh is grass", every man is withering, mortal, dying, and
dies; all have sinned, and so death comes upon all men.
2a.
Persons of every sex, male and female; of every age, young and old; small and
great; some die in infancy, who have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression; some in childhood, others in youth; some in the prime of their
days, and in their full strength; and some in old age, and those that live the
longest yet die, as Methuselah the oldest man did. Look over the account of the
antediluvian Patriarchs, #Ge 5:1-32 there it may be
observed, that at the close of the account of each it is said, "he
died"; such an one lived eight hundred years and old, and "he
died"; and such an one lived nine hundred years and old, and "he
died".
2b. Of every rank and class
and condition in life, high and low, rich and poor; kings die
as well as their subjects: Job wishes he had died as soon as born, then he had
been with kings and counsellors of the earth, and with princes whose houses had
been filled with gold and silver: riches cannot keep off nor buy off the stroke
of death, nor deliver from it; the rich and the poor meet together in the
grave, where they are upon an equal foot.
2c. Persons of every character
among men; it may be seen and observed in instances without number, that wise
men die, and also the fool and brutish person; yea often so it is, that a wise
man dies as a fool dies; Solomon, the wisest of men, died. Learning, in all its
branches and in its highest pitch, cannot secure from dying men learned and unlearned die.
2d. Persons of every character
in the sight of God, wicked men and good men; the wickedness of the wicked, of
those who are the most addicted and abandoned to it, such as have made a
covenant with death and with hell, are at an agreement, as they imagine; such covenant and agreement will not stand, nor be of
any avail unto them to protect them from death; though they put away the evil
day far from them, it will come upon them suddenly, while they are crying
peace, peace, and promise themselves a long life of prosperity: and good men,
they die also, "The prophets, do they live for ever?" they do not,
#Zec 1:5 merciful and righteous men are often taken away in
mercy from the evil to come; true believers in Christ, such who live and
believe in him, or have a living faith on him, shall never die a spiritual
death, nor the second death; but they die a corporal one, even though Christ
has died for them, and by dying has satisfied for sin, and abolished death.
Yet,
2e. Their
death is different from that of wicked men; they die in Christ, in union to
him, and so are secure from condemnation; they die in faith of being for ever with
him; they die in hope of eternal life; and their end is different from others:
the end of a perfect and upright man is peace; he departs in peace, he enters
into peace, he receives the end of his faith, even the salvation of his soul;
when the wicked man goes into everlasting punishment, he
goes into everlasting life.
2f. The reason of which is,
death is abolished as a penal evil, though it was threatened as such for sin,
and is inflicted as such on some; yet being bore by Christ as a penalty, in the
room and stead of his people, it ceases to be so to them; the sting of it, which is sin, is taken away by Christ; the curse of it
is removed, Christ being made a curse for them; death is become a blessing to
them, for blessed are they that die in Christ; and hence it is desirable by
them, and there is good reason for it; since it puts an end to sin and sorrow,
enters into the joy of the Lord, and fulfils it.
3.
Thirdly, the causes of death, on what account it comes upon men, and to whom
and what it is to be ascribed.
3a. First, the efficient cause
is God, who is the sovereign disposer of life and death; it is he that gives
life and breath, and all things to his creatures; life is a favour granted by him to men, and he upholds their souls in life; and
since he is the author, giver, and supporter of life, he may with propriety be
called the God of their lives; and he that gives life has only a right to take
it away; and he is a sovereign being, and may do it at his pleasure; and he has
particularly expressed his sovereignty in this instance, saying, "I kill,
and I make alive", #De 32:39 #1Sa 2:6 he is God the Lord,
to whom belong the "issues from death"; or rather, the issues to it,
the ways which lead to it, and issue in it; for as the poet says {5}, it has a
thousand ways to come upon men, attack and dispatch them.
3a1. No man
has a right to take away his own life, nor the life
of
another; Christ, the Prince of life, who had the human
nature united
to his divine Person, had power to dispose of
his human
life, to lay it down, and take it up again; which
none besides
has: suicide, of all the kinds of murder, is
the most
unnatural and execrable; it has been committed by
wicked
men; as Saul, Judas, &c. Samson is no instance of it;
what he did,
was not with an intention to destroy his own
life, but the
lives of the enemies of God, and of his
people, in
doing which his own life fell a sacrifice; and
was done in a
devout and pious manner, praying unto God: and
besides,
he acted not as a private man, but as a civil
magistrate,
and judge in Israel; and whatever may be
charitably
hoped of some persons, who have been left to
destroy
themselves, care should be taken not to encourage,
nor give any
countenance to so sinful a practice. Nor ought
any
man to take away the life of another; since the life of
man was
neither to be taken away by another, in the heat of
passion and
wrath, or for sordid and sinister ends to obtain
their
property; God made a law, and it was one of the first
he made after
the flood, that "He that shed man's blood, by
man
should his blood be shed", #Ge 9:6 that is, by the order
of the civil
magistrate; and a person convicted of this
capital
crime, ought not to be pardoned; the law is express
and
peremptory. And though this sin may be ever so privately
committed,
yet, generally speaking, it is discovered, and is
punished
in this life; and it is sure to meet with its
reward in the
world to come; such sinners are always
reckoned
among those who shall not inherit the kingdom of
God; but
shall have their portion in the lake which burns
with fire,
which is the second death; unless the grace of
God
is displayed in giving them repentance and remission of
sin.
3a2. Satan,
though he is said "to have the power of death",
#Heb 2:14 yet
this is not to be understood as if he had
a
power and right to inflict death at pleasure on men; for
if so, such
is his malice and rooted enmity to men, that the
race of
mankind would have been extinct long ago. The case
of Job shows
that he lies under the restraint of God in this
matter: he
may have been, by divine permission, in some
instances,
the executioner of death to the enemies of God,
and to such
who have given up themselves to him, and sold
themselves to
work wickedness. He was the introducer of sin
into the
world, the cause of death; and both are the works
of the devil,
which Christ came to destroy, and has
destroyed;
and Satan, because of his concern in the ruin of
our first
parents, by his temptations, and so of all
mankind, he
is said to be a "murderer from the beginning",
#Joh 8:44.
3a3.
Death of right is of God only; it is he who threatened with
it in case of
sin; and made it the sanction of his law.
Death,
whenever he comes and attacks men, it is by a
commission
from God. He is sometimes represented as a person
coming up at
our windows, and into our palaces and houses,
like
a bailiff to arrest men; and sometimes as on horseback
and armed,
and power given him to kill men with various
sorts of
judgments, as famine, pestilence, sword, and wild
beasts; see
#Jer 9:21 Re 6:8 and whatever are the means of
the death of
men, whether extraordinary or ordinary, they
are
all of God, and under his direction; every disorder,
disease, and
sickness, are servants sent by him to execute
his pleasure;
insomuch that death is frequently spoken of as
his act, and
as inflicted by him; it is expressed by taking
men away; by
taking away their life or soul; by gathering
the
breath and Spirit of men to himself; by prevailing
against man,
and causing him to pass away; and by changing
his
countenance, and sending him away, #Job 27:8
#Job 32:22
34:14 14:20.
3a4.
Death is by his appointment; it is the statute law of
heaven, #Heb
9:27. The grave is the house appointed for all
men living,
#Job 30:23. All things leading to death, and
which issue
in it, are under a divine appointment. All
afflictions,
diseases, and disorders, are of God; these are
not
fortuitous events, that come by chance, or spring out of
the dust; but
come by the appointment of God, to bring about
the
dissolution by death: all the circumstances of it are
according to
the determinate counsel and will of God; as
what death,
and by what event, a man shall die; and the
manner
of his death, and the place where; for though we are
told where we
were born, and know where we now live; yet no
man knows
where he shall die; none but God knows this, who
has
determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of
mens
habitations, where they shall live, and where they
shall
die. The time of a man's death is appointed by God;
for there is
a time for every purpose of God, for the
execution of
it: "A time to be born, and a time to die",
#Ec 3:1,2
there is an appointed time for man on earth, when
he shall come
into the world, how long he shall continue in it,
and
when he shall go out of it; and before this time no man
dies. The
Jews sought to lay hold on Christ, to take away
his lifts,
but they could not, because his hour was not
come; and the
same holds good of every man. Nor can any live
longer than
the appointed time; "The time drew nigh that
Israel
must die", #Ge 47:29 there was a time fixed for it,
and that was
at hand, when he must die, and there was no
going beyond
it. Job says of a man, "his days are determined,
the number of
his months are with thee; thou hast appointed
his bounds
that he cannot pass", #Job 14:5 a man cannot
lengthen
out his days, nor another for him; no man "can add
one cubit
unto his stature", or rather, "to his age",
#Mt 6:27. The
days of men are compared to an hand's breadth,
#Ps 39:5 and
to this hand's breadth, a cubit, nor indeed any
measure at
all, can be added, with all the thought, care,
and
means, that can be made use of; physicians, in this
respect, are
physicians of no value; they cannot prolong the
life of men;
they may make life a little more easy and
comfortable
while it lasts; but they cannot protract it one
moment: nor
can men that abound with wealth and riches, give
to
God a ransom for themselves and others, that they should
"still
live for ever, and see no corruption", #Ps 49:6-9.
There are
several things objected to this; but are what
have been
mostly answered already; as that Hezekiah had
fifteen
years added to his days; and some men not living out
half their
days, and dying before their time {6}, #Ps 55:23
#Ec 7:17. As
for the objection taken from the insignificancy
and
uselessness of means, and temptations to lay them aside,
if things are
so, that no man can live longer, nor die
sooner,
than the appointed time: it should be known, that in
general, with
respect to things civil or sacred, the means
are equally
appointed as the end, and to be used in order to
it; this
appears in the case of Hezekiah; though the decree
was express
and peremptory, that fifteen years should be
certainly
added to his days; yet the prophet that brought
the message
from the Lord, and the King that received it,
both agreed
to have a plaster of figs laid upon his boil,
for the
recovery of his health, and the continuance of his
life, #Isa
38:21 Ac 27:31.
3b. Secondly, the procuring or
meritorious cause of death, is sin; it was threatened in case of sin; and when
sin entered the world, death came in by it; it is the wages and demerit of sin;
"The body is dead because of sin"; it is become mortal, and dies, on
account of it, #Ro 5:12 6:23 8:10. Man was originally made an immortal creature; the soul, in its own nature, is such, being
immaterial; and though the body is composed of matter, and such as was capable
of being reduced and resolved into the elements of which it was made, for sin;
yet it was gifted by God with immortality; and had man continued in his state
of innocence, this gift would have remained with him; for the death of the body
is not the fruit and effect of nature, as say the Socinians
{7}; but of sin; for if man would have died, according to the course of nature,
whether he had sinned or not; to what purpose was the threatening, "In the
day thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die", if he would and must have
died, whether he eat or not? But it was through sinning that he became mortal,
like the beasts, and perish or die, as they do. Otherwise man would have
continued immortal; and, by means directed to, would have
been supported in his present life, without dying, or any fears of it; or would
have been translated to an higher kind of life, for evermore.
3c. Thirdly, the instrumental
causes, or means of death, are various; or which, and who,
are employed in the execution of it. Angels are sometimes made use of to
inflict it; thus an angel in one night slew, in the Assyrian camp, an hundred
fourscore and five thousand, #2Ki 19:35. Multitudes are cut off by the sword of
justice, in the hand of the civil magistrate, and that by the order and
appointment of God. God has his four judgments, sword, famine, pestilence, and
wild beasts, by which sometimes great havoc is made among
men; the ordinary means by which death is instrumentally brought about, are
disorders and distempers of the body; which operate sometimes in a quicker, and
sometimes in a slower way; yet sooner or later they are the cause of mens
drawing to the grave, and their life to the destroyers.
3d.
Fourthly, the properties of death, which serve to lead into the nature, power,
and use of death.
3d1. It is
but once; "It is appointed unto men once to die",
#Heb 9:27.
Ordinarily men die but once; they do not soon
return
to life again, and then die again; they go by death
whither they
shall not return to their houses, and families, and
friends
again, and to their business in life, as before;
when they
die, they lie down in the grave, and rise not till
the heavens
be no more; that is, until the second coming of
Christ,
when the heavens shall pass away; or until the
resurrection
morn, which will be when Christ himself shall
descend from
heaven to judge the world, from whose face the
heaven and
earth shall flee away; see #Job 7:10 10:21
#Job
14:10-12. There have been some instances in which men
have
died, and have been raised again to a mortal life, as it
should seem,
and then have died again; otherwise it is not
easy to say,
how Christ could be called the firstborn from
the dead, if
any were raised before him to an immortal life,
never to die
more; since some were raised before; as the
"son"
of the widow of Sarepta, by Elijah; and the son of the
Shunammite,
by Elisha; and the man that revived upon touching
the prophet's
bones: and also others by Christ himself; as
Jairus's
daughter, the widow of Naim's son, and Lazarus; of
whom it is
particularly observed, that after his resurrection
he
sat at table as a guest, at supper time, to eat and drink;
which
supposes the life he was raised to was a mortal one,
and that he was
supported in the manner mortals are, and died
again, #Joh
12:2. But commonly men die but once, as Christ
the Saviour
did.
3d2. Death is
certain; it is certain by the appointment of God,
which cannot
be frustrated; Israel must die, and so must
every man;
though the time when is very uncertain; the Son
of man comes
in an hour men know not of; therefore they
should
be ready, and watching, and waiting for him. Nothing
is more
certain than death, as all experience in all ages
testily; and
yet nothing more uncertain than the time when a
man shall
die.
3d3.
Death is mighty, powerful, and irresistible; what is
stronger than
death? No man has power over his spirit, to
retain the
spirit one moment, when it is called for: when
God says,
this night thy soul is required of thee, it must
be given up:
there is no resisting nor withstanding: when it
is
said, "The Master is come, and calleth for thee", thou
must go; when
death comes and calls for a man, he must go
with him;
strugglings and intreaties are to no purpose.
3d4. Death is
insatiable; it is one of those things that is never
satisfied;
and the grave, which follows it, is another,
#Hab 2:5 Pr
30:16 though it has been glutting itself from
the beginning
of the world, it is as greedy of its prey as ever;
and though it
sometimes makes such a carnage of men, as in a
battle, that
thousands are slain in one day, and great
numbers
in a short time, by famine and pestilence, yet it
never has
enough.
3d5. Death is
necessary; not only by the appointment of God,
which must be
accomplished; but for the truth of God, in his
threatening
with it, in case of sin; and for the justice of
God on
sinners, which requires it: and besides, it is also
necessary to
the saints, for their good; that they may be
free from
indwelling sin and corruption, which they cannot
be as long as
they are in this tabernacle; this earthly
house
in which the spreading leprosy of sin is, must be
pulled down,
ere a thorough riddance can be made of it; it
is necessary
to deliver the saints from all the troubles of
this life,
and to introduce them into the joy of their Lord.
Wherefore,
3d6. Though
death is formidable to nature, and to natural men;
yet it is
desirable by good men; they seek their dismission
from hence by
it; they choose rather to depart, and to be
with Christ,
which is much better than a continuance in a
life
of sin and sorrow; they are willing rather to be absent
from the
body, that they might be present with the Lord.
{1} So Plato says,
"Death, as it seems to me, is nothing else than dialusiv thv quchv kai tou
swmatov ap' allhloin, a dissolution (of those two things) soul and body from one another." Gorgias, p. 357. and elsewhere, says he,
"is not this called death, lusiv kai cwrismov quchv apo swmatov, the
solution and separation of the soul from the body?" Phaedo, p. 51. Ed.
Fiein.
{2} See Nieuwentyt's Religious
Philosopher, vol. 1. contempl. 6. s. 7. 8. p. 77, 78, 79.
{3} "------omnes una manet
nox, et calcanda semel via lethi", Horat.
{4}
"Stulte, quid est somnus, gelidae nisi mortis imago?" Ovid.
{5} "Mille viae
lethi", Lucan.
{6} See Vol. I. B. III. Chap.
4. P. 473. see on topic 895.
{7} Socinus de Servatore, par.
3. c. 8. p. 208. & de Statu primi Hominis, p. 276. et Praelection. Theolog.
c. 1.