other hand, that I judged requifite, not meddled with, I refolved to take a different method, and to frame a book, the greatest part whereof fhould be perfectly new, and the rest fo altered and changed, as that it cannot be called the fame, And if what I have written may tend to God's glory, and the devout reader's benefit, I fall efteem my time happily employed.

THE confideration of death and eternity is a matter of that vaft confequence, to all who know they bave immortal fouls to fave, that whatever either tends to promote this, or may be ferviceable in order to the better effect of it, can never be unfeasonable; efpecially when we call to mind, how exceedingly uncertain the time of our fay here is, infomuch that there is no man living, who can be fure, that he has an hour more to live. It was an excellent petition of Mofes, or whofgever it was that compofed the ninetieth Pfalm: So teach us to number our days, as that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom, ver. 12. Nor is there any furer courfe to become wife to the best purposes, viz. the promoting God's glory, and our own everlasting welfare, than by accustoming ourselves often to reflect upon, and seriously weigh with ourselves, the little time we have to spend here, and the immenfe concern we have depending upon our

good

away

good improvement of it; nor any folly in the world comparable to theirs, who can be content to idle their time, and mifemploy themfelves, when, for aught they know to the contrary, they may be fnatched away the next moment; and fo, being feized without a due preparation for a better state, may be Sentenced to depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

THERE is none who is not continually liable to fickness and death; and who ought not therefore to be always furnished with patience and fubmiffion to the Divine Will under the former, and to be every day in a readiness for the other. And, to affift the Chriftian reader in order to these weighty purposes, that fo be may be happy both here and hereafter, is the defign of the following tract. But then it is incumbent upon him, to apply what is faid in it to bis own foul; inafmuch as without this it muft needs prove infignificant and ufelefs; the best advice that can be given in any cafe, being of no advantage, where it is not attended to. A man may please himfelf with what he hears, or reads, and it may ferve him for amufement and diverfion; but, if this be all the ufe he makes of it, he grossly deceives his own foul, if he think however to be advantaged by it. Such an one is but like the man fpoken of by St. James,

who, (a) beholding his natural face in a glafs, goeth away, and straitway forgetteth what manner of man he was. The true end of reading is improvement. And whofoever therefore would be really benefited by what he reads, must take care to digeft it in his thoughts, and then to reduce it to practice, and try to get his life amended by it.

ALMIGHTY God has (b) given us exceeding great and precious promifes, and will be fure to make them good in his due time, if we do not fenfelessly incapacitate ourselves for them. But then it is to be remembered, that they are all conditional, and there is no hope of attaining to them, but by partaking of the Divine Nature, and escaping the corruption which is in the world through luft. We must cleanfe and purify ourselves, and ferve God faithfully, with reverence and godly fear, before we can look upon ourselves to be interefied in his favour, and intitled to the promised falvation. (c) The foundation, the promise and covenant of God, ftandeth fure, having this feal, for the confirmation of it on his part, that the Lord knoweth, and will own, them that are his : And, on their part, Let every one that nameth

(a) James i. 23, 24... (b) 2 Pet. i. 4.

ii. 19.

(c).2 Tim.

the

the Name of Christ, and pretends to be his dif ciple and fervant, depart from all iniquity. This is the certain and the only way to please God, and to be for ever happy in the enjoyment of him: and it is therefore every one's indifpenfible duty to de-. mean himself accordingly, and not only when death looks him in the face, and he must expect to be tranflated hence, but throughout his whole life; as be will undoubtedly be convinced when he comes to die, if not before.

AND oh that men were wife, that they understood this, that they would confider their latter end! That they would be ferious, and in earnest, and have thofe thoughts in their health and Arength, which they ordinarily have when they come to die! Then they are apt to reflect upon their past lives, with an unfeigned forrow and regret, for not having made better improvement of them. And, if they had ten thousand worlds at their dif pofal, thefe fhould all go to redeem that time, which they had fo vainly fquandered away. They will then find to their forrow and shame, that to prepare themfelves for Heaven is not fo eafy a task as they had imagined, but must be a work of time and pains, and ought indeed to have been the main bufinefs of their whole lives. Which being once granted,

it

it is impoffible to give a reason, why they should not all immediately fet about it, with the utmost diligence; that fince they have here no abiding city, they therefore never cease to seek one that is to come. This is the great end of our living here; and the only way that God has prescribed, in order to a better ftate. And they who take a contrary courfe, may infallibly depend upon it, that death will open a frightful fcene to them, that will caufe them to bethink themselves when it is too late, and` to condemn themselves to all eternity, for not having done it fooner.

N. Spinckes.

THE