and Comforts, but it has introduced them to a nobler Society, that of an innumerable Company of Angels, and the Spirits of the Just made perfect; they are entered into a State of peaceful Reft, where they shall be absolutely freed from all the Remains of Corruption, and shall be made perfect in Holinefs and Glory. Their Bodies are in the Grave, subject to Corruption; but the Time is coming, when even these Bodies shall be raised in Incorruption, Glory, and Power; and so shall they be for ever with the Lord, in whofe Prefence is Fulness of Joy, and at whose right Hand are Pleasures for evermore. Secondly, Another Reflexion that arifeth upon this Subject is this, that it highly concerneth us to endeavour to secure an Interest in our Lord Jesus Christ, and approve ourselves his faithful Disciples, that we may, through him, be fortified against the Fears of our own Death, and may be raised to the lively Hope of a bleffed Immortality. And this is only to be done by a hearty Compliance with the gracious and reasonable Terms of the New Covenant, by a fincere Repentance and a true and living Faith in Jesus Christ, such a Faith ds worketh by Love, and purifieth the Heart, and formeth us into his amiable Likeness, so that we have the fame Mind in us that was in him, and walk even as he walked. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them, faith our Saviour, he it is that loveth me. And again, Ye are my Friends, if yo do whatsoever I have commanded you. When we so believe and trust in him as to endeavour, in our general Course, to walk in a dutiful Obedience to his holy and righteous Laws, and do not allow ourselves in known presumptuous Sin and Difobedience; when we make it our Care to answer the great End for which he gave himfelf for us, which was that we might die unto Sin, and live unto Righteousness: Then we may, upon good Grounds, claim an Interest in that blessed Redeemer, and in the glorious Fruits of his Death and Paffion. Let us often consider what Christ bath done and suffered for us; that, by Dying, he hath taken away the Sting of Death, and, by Arifing again from the Dead, hath given the visible Pledge and Earnest of our own Resurrection to immortal Bliss; and especially let us often look forward to his fecond glorious Appearing, when Death, the laft Enemy, shall be destroyed, and he shall come to complete the Salvation of his People. Such Thoughts frequently realised, and strongly impressed upon our Minds, would have a happy Influence to raise us above the discouraging Fears of Death, and would prepare us for meeting it without Terror: Terror: We might then, upon just Grounds, break forth into that triumphant Language of the great Apostle St. Paul, O Death, where is thy Sting? O Grave, where is thy Victory ? The Sting of Death is Sin, and the Strength of Sin is the Law. But Thanks be to God that giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Chrift. How Christ brought Light and Immortality to Light. DISCOURSE XΧΙ. 2 TIMOTHY i. 10. - And hath brought Life and Immortatality to Light through the Gospel. MONG the many Things that recommend the Aought mightily ma Gospel of Jesus to our Esteem, there is none that better deserves to be confidered by us than this, that it makes the most ample Discoveries, and gives us the strongest Assurances, of a blessed Immortality: For to Creatures whose Life is so short and fo uncertain, and often so troublesome here on ! on Earth, nothing is of greater Importance, or more fitted to yield a fincere and folid Joy, Joy, than to be affured of a glorious and endless Life, in another and a better World. This is one of the noblest Incitements to Virtue; it furnisheth the most powerful Motives and Arguments to engage us to a patient Continuance in Well-doing, and to bear us up under all the Difficulties and Discouragements of this present State. It was therefore one valuable End of God's Sending his only begotten Son into the World to bring far clearer, and fuller, and more fatisfying Discoveries of that everlasting Felicity that is reserved for good Men in a future State, than were ever made to Mankind before: And this is what the Apostle leads us to confider, when he tells us, that the Grace of God is now made manifest by the Appearing of our Saviour Jesus Chrift, who hath abolished Death, and hath brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel. I shewed, in a former Discourse on this Text, in what Sense it is to be understood, that our Lord Jesus Christ hath abolished Death; I now proceed to confider the last Part of the Words, in which we are told, that Christ hath brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel. There |