Chapter 7. The second Royal Privilege of a Christian, is that he shall be carried up by the angels.
downwards—but more wide and broad upwards. So our affections should be very narrow downwards to the earth—but wide and large upwards towards heavenly things.
Thus we see death is a privilege to believers; death is yours! The heir while he is under age, is heir of the land he is born to—but he has not the use or the benefit of it, until he comes of age. Be as old as you will, you are never of age for heaven—until you die. Death brings us to age, and then the possession comes into our hands!
Chapter 7.
The Second Royal Privilege: He Shall be Carried up by the Angels.
Now I proceed to the second privilege, which is yet to come: what holy David says of Zion, "Glorious things are spoken of you, O you city of God," Psalm 87:3.
In this life, a believer is carried by the saints; they lift him upon the wings of their prayers; and when they can carry him no longer, after death, the angels take him, and carry him up. Wicked men, when they die, they shall have a black guard of angels to carry them. You who are an old sinner (who has a hoary head—but your heart is as young in sin as ever) I may say to you as Christ said in another sense to Peter: "When you are old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you, and carry you where you would not." So I say,
You old sinner, the time is shortly coming, when you shall stretch forth your hands on your death-bed, and another shall bind you, and carry you where you would not; you shall be carried by a black guard!
But a believer shall be carried by the angels into heaven: "The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom."
Abraham's bosom is a figurative speech, representing the seat of the