preparation and dying comfortably: his spirit must be in good condition too.

Wherefore there are three cases in which death cannot but be very uncomfortable to a child of God. (1.) If it seize him at a time when the guilt of some particular sin unrepented of, is lying on his conscience, and death come on that very account to take him out of the land of the living; as was the case of many of the Corinthian believers, 1 Cor. xi. 30, 'For this cause (namely, of unworthy communicating) many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.' If a person be surprised with the approach of death, while lying under the guilt of some unpardoned sin, it cannot but cause a mighty consternation. (2.) When death catches him napping. The mighty cry must be frightful to sleeping virgins. The man who lies in a ruinous house, and awakens not till the timber begins to crack, and the stones to drop down about his ears, may indeed get out of it safely, but not without fears of being crushed by its fall. When a Christian has been going on in a course of security and backsliding, and awakens not till death comes to his bedside, it is no marvel if he get a fearful awakening. Lastly, When he has lost sight of his saving interest in Christ, and cannot produce evidences of his title to heaven. It is hard to meet death without some evidence of a title to eternal life at hand hard to go through the dark valley without the candle of the Lord shining upon the head. It is a terrible adventure to launch out into eternity, when a man can make no better of it than a leap into the dark, not knowing where he shall light, whether in heaven or hell.

Nevertheless, the state of the saints, in their death, is always in itself hopeful. The presumptuous hopes of the ungodly, in their death, cannot make their state hopeful; neither can the hopelessness of a saint make his state hopeless; for God judgeth according to the truth of the thing, not according to men's opinions about it. Howbeit, the saints can no more be altogether without hope, than they can be altogether without faith. Their faith may be very weak, but it fails not; and their hope very low, yet they will and do hope to the end. Even while the godly seem to be carried away with the stream of doubts and fears, there remains still as much hope as determines them to lay hold on the tree of life that grows on the banks of the river. Jonah ii. 4, Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight yet will I look again towards thy holy temple." USE. This speaks comfort to the godly against the fear of death. A godly man may be called a happy man, before his death; because, whatever befal him in life, he shall certainly Bb

be happy at death. You who are in Christ, who are true Christians, have hope in your end; and such hope as may comfort you against all those fears which arise from the consideration of a dying hour. This I shall branch out, in answering some cases briefly.

CASE I. "The prospect of death (will some of the saints say) is uneasy to me, not knowing what shall become of my family when I am gone." ANSW. The righteous hath hope in his death as to his family, as well as to himself. Although you have little for the present to live upon, which has been the case of many of God's chosen ones, 1 Cor. iv. 11, "We (namely the Apostles, ver. 9,) both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place." And though you have nothing to leave them, as was the case of that son of the prophet's, who did fear the Lord, and yet died in debt, which he was unable to pay, as his poor widow represents, 2 Kings iv. 1; yet you have a good friend to leave them to, a covenanted God, to whom you may confidently commit them, Jer. xlix. 11, “Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive, and let thy widows trust in me." The world can bear witness of signal settlements made upon the children of providence; such as by their pious parents have been cast upon God's providential care, it has been often remarked, that they wanted neither provision nor education. Moses is an eminent instance of this; he, albeit he was an outcast infant, (Exod. ii. 3,) yet was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," Acts vii. 22. and became "King in Jeshurun," Deut. xxxiii. 5. O! may we not be ashamed, that we do not securely trust him with the concerns of our families, to whom, as our Saviour and Redeemer, we have committed our eternal interests!

CASE II. "Death will take us away from our dear friends; yea, we shall not see the Lord in the land of the living, in the blessed ordinances." ANsw. It will take you to your best friend, the Lord Christ. And the friends you leave behind you, if they be indeed persons of worth, you will meet again, when they come to heaven: and you will never be separated any more. If death take you away from the temple below, it will carry you to the temple above. It will indeed take you from the streams, but it will set you down by the fountain. If it put out your candle, it will carry you where there is no night, where there is an eternal day.

CASE III. "I have so much ado, in time of health, to satisfy myself, as to my interest in Christ, about my being a real Christian, a regenerate man, that, I judge, it is almost impossible I should die comfortably." ANS. If it be thus with you,

then double your diligence, to make your calling and election sure. Endeavour to grow in knowledge, and walk closely with God: be diligent in self-examination; and pray earnestly for the Holy Spirit, whereby you may know the things freely given you of God. If you are enabled by the power and Spirit of Christ, thus diligently to prosecute your spiritual concerns, though the time of your life be neither day nor night, yet "at evening time, it may be light." Many weak Christians indulge doubts and fears about their spiritual state, as if they placed, at least, some part of religion in this imprudent practice: but towards the period of life, they are forced to think and act in another manner, The traveller, who reckons he has time to spare, may stand still debating with himself, whether this or the other be the right way: but when the sun begins to set, he is forced to lay aside his scruples, and resolutely to go forward on the road he judges to be the right one, lest he lie all night in the open fields. Thus some Christians, who perplex themselves much throughout the course of their lives, with jealous doubts and fears, content themselves when they come to die with such evidences of the safety of their state, as they could not be satisfied with before: and by disputing less against themselves, and believing more, court the peace they formerly rejected, and gain it too.

CASE IV. "I am under a sad decay, in respect of my spiritual condition." ANSW. Bodily consumptions may make death easy, but it is not so in spiritual decays. I will not say that a godly man cannot be in such a case, when he dies; but I believe it is rarely so. Ordinarily (I suppose) a cry comes to awak en sleeping virgins before death comes. Samson is set to grind in the prison, until his locks grow again. David and Solomon fell under great spiritual decays; but before they died, they recovered their spiritual strength and vigour. However, bestir ye yourselves without delay, to "Strengthen the things that remain:" your fright will be the less that ye awake from spiritual sleep ere death come to bed-side: and you ought to lose no time, seeing you know not how soon death may seize you.

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CASE V. "It is terrible to think of the other world, that world of spirits I have so little acquaintance with." ANSW. Thy best friend is Lord of that other world. Abraham's bosom is kindly, even to those who never saw his face. After death thy soul becomes capable of converse with the blessed inhabitants of that other world. The spirits of just men made perfect were once such as thy spirit now is. And as for the angels, howsoever they be of a superior nature in the rank of beings, yet our nature is dignified above theirs, in the man

Christ; and they are, all of them, thy Lord's servants, and so thy fellow-servants.

CASE VI. "The pangs of death are terrible." ANSW. Yet not so terrible as pangs of conscience caused by a piercing sense of guilt, and apprehensions of divine wrath, with which I suppose thee not to be altogether unacquainted. But who would not endure bodily sickness, that the soul may become sound, and every whit whole? Each pang of death will set sin a step nearer the door; and with the last breath, the body of sin will breathe out its last. The pains of death will not last long; and the Lord thy God will not leave but support thee under them.

CASE VII. "But I am likely to be cut off in the midst of my days." ANS. Do not complain you will be the sooner at home: you have thereby the advantage of your fellow-labourers, who were at work before you in the vineyard. God, in in the course of his providence, hides some of his saints early in the grave, that they may be taken away from the evil to come. An early removal out of this world prevents much sin and misery: and they have no ground of complaint, who get the residue of their years in Immanuel's land. Surely thou shalt live as long as thou hast work cut out for thee, by thy great Master, to be done for him in this world; and when that is at an end, it is high time to be gone.

CASE VIII. "I am afraid of sudden death." ANs. Thou mayest indeed die so. Good Eli died suddenly, 1 Sam. iv. 18. Yet death found him watching, ver. 13. "Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour the Lord doth come," Matth. xxiv. 42. But be not afraid, it is an inexpressible comfort, that death, come when it will, can never catch thee out of Christ; and therefore can never seize thee, as a gaoler, to hurry thee into the prison of hell. Sudden death may hasten and facilitate thy passage to heaven, but can do thee no prejudice.

CASE IX. "I am afraid it may be my lot to die wanting the exercise of reason." ANS. I make no question but a child of God, a true Christian, may die in this case. But what harm? There is no hazard in it, as to his eternal state: a disease at death, may divest him of his reason, but not of his religion. When a man going a long voyage, has put his affairs in order, and put all his goods aboard; he himself may be carried aboard the ship sleeping: all is safe with him, although he knows not where he is, till he awakens in the ship. Even so the godly man, who dies in this case, may die uncomfortably, but not unsafely.

CASE Last. "I am naturally timorous, and the very thoughts of death are terrible to me." ANS. The less you think on death, the thoughts of it will be the more frightful: but make it familiar to you by frequent meditations upon it, and you may thereby allay your fears. Look at the white and bright side of the cloud: take faith's view of the city that hath foundations, so shall you see hope in your death. Be duly affected with the body of sin and death, and frequent interruptions of your communion with God, and with the glory which dwells on the other side of death: this will contribute much to remove slavish fear.

It is a pity saints should be so fond of life as they often are: they ought always to be in good terms with death. When matters are duly considered, it might well be expected every child of God, every regenerate man, should generously profess concerning this life, what Job did, chap. vii. 16, "I loathe it, I would not live always." In order to gain their hearts to this desirable temper, I offer the following additional considerations.

FIRST, Consider the sinfulness that attends life in this world. While ye live here, ye sin, and see others sinning. Ye breathe infectuous air. Ye live in a pest house. Is it at all strange to loathe such a life? (1.) Your own plague sores are running on you. Doth not the sin of your nature make you groan daily? Are you not sensible, that though the cure be begun, it is yet far from being perfected? Has not the leprosy got into the walls of the house, which cannot be removed without pulling it down? Is not your nature so vitiate, that no less than the separation of the soul from the body can root out the disease? Have you not your sores without, as well as your sickness within? Do ye not leave marks of your pollution on whatsoever passes through your hands? Are not all your actions tainted and blemished with defects and imperfections? Who else then should be much in love with life, but such whose sickness is their health, and who glory in their shame? (2.) The loathesome sores of others are always before your eyes, go where you will. The follies and wickedness of men are every conspicuous, and make but an unpleasant scene. This sinful world is but an unsightly company, a disagreeable crowd, in which the most loathesome are the most numerous. (3.) Are not your own sores frequently breaking out again, after healing? Frequent relapses may well cause us remit of our fondness for this life. To be ever struggling, and anon falling into the mire again, makes weary work. Do ye never wish for cold death, thereby effectually to cool the heat of these lusts,

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