Faith strives, but all its efforts fail
To trace her in her flight:
No eye can pierce within the veil
Which hides that world of light.

Thus much (and this is all) we know,
They are completely blest;
Have done with sin, and care, and wo,
And with their SAVIOUR rest."

And is it for such, we put on sable attire, and go mourning all the day? Is this thy kindness to thy friend? If you loved them, would you not rejoice because they are gone to the Father? Are they not now, from the most excellent glory, ready to exclaim, "Weep not for us, but for yourselves and children-You are the proper objects of pity, not we. You who are still in the conflict, not we who have gotten the victory. You who are yet in the body, not we who are delivered from the burden of the flesh. You who rise in the morning to cares that perplex you, fears that dismay you, disappointments that vex you, infirmities that depress you; not we, who are for ever with the

Lord."

Ah! my Brethren, if all this be true, what reason have we to adore the undeserved and infinite goodness of God. We cannot think too highly of this attribute; and it is well for our consciences that the proofs of it are so numerous and obvious. The earth is full of his riches. In the various seasons, he crowns the year with his goodness. He daily loadeth us with his benefits. He gives us all things richly to enjoy. But what would all these have been, with destruction at the end? Who remembered us in our low estate? Who turned the curse into a blessing? Who converted the avenue to hell into the gate of life? Who caused the spoiler to enrich us? and made the last enemy an inestimable friend?

Let us not also forget the way in which this change is accomplished; the mediation of the Lord Jesus. Here is the mystery. We who were poor could never have been rich, if he who was rich had not for our sake become poor. Because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise himself took part of the same. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree; and died that we may live. He abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, He therefore says, " If a man keep my sayings, he shall not see death." He has indeed to pass through the state; but the bitterness of death is past. He has only to finish his course with joy, to fall asleep in Jesus, to depart to be with Christ, which is far

better.

But, my dear hearers, will this be the case with us? Let us not think the inquiry needless, or incapable of solution. Here people often show their ignorance and presumption. They talk of the desirableness of death; but expose themselves to the censure of the prophet, "Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness?" When some of you wish you were dead, what is it in reality, but wishing you were dainned? You are just as near to hell as you are to death; and the one is as sure as the other. Be not therefore deceived. Whatever privations or sufferings you are now enduring, it is not better for you to die than to live. Much as you complain, these are only the beginning of sorrows, the earnests and foretastes of everlasting lamentations and mourning and wo. What says the voice from heaven? "Write, blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." These are all blessed; but these only. As for those who are not in Him, they are not under grace, but under the law. And, "as many as are under the law are under the curse." His righteousness is not theirs to justify them. His Spirit is not theirs to sanctify them. They have no title to glory. No meetness for it. No capacity for its services. No susceptibility of its joys.

Finally. Let us now turn the medal. We have been speaking of the death of the Christian-but mark the wicked man, and behold the ungodly-What is his end? The answer would seem too awful for declamation; and we should not even present the scene, but to heighten the subject by contrast; and to prevent, if possible, your realizing it in your own experience. We therefore endeavour to save with fear; and knowing the terror of the Lord, would persuade men. And in this work of apparent severity, but real compassion, the sacred writers go before us. "What," says Peter, "shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?" "The Lord," says David, "shall laugh at him, for he seeth that his day is coming. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. I was perplexed and pained at the sight of their prosperity, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image."

Does the dying sinner look back upon the past? "Vanity of vanities," says the reviewer, "vanity of vanities, all is vanity." His life appears a succession of fancies, dreams and impositions. Nothing seems real, but his sins. Thesehis neglect of prayer, his forgetfulness of God, the profanation of his Sabbaths, the contempt of his word and commandments-these, in their number and aggravations, revive and approach-and conscience keeps them in view.

-What satisfaction or relief can the present afford him? Every thing in his outward condition may be agreeable; but what is this to a wounded spirit? Righteousness delivers from death, but riches profit not in the day of wrath. What is honour to one who knows he is ready for the worms? Can flattery sooth the dull, cold ear of death? What is the consolation of being praised where we are not, while we are miserable where we are!

What does the future promise? He is separating from every thing he loves, to enter a state in which he has no hope, after which he has no desire, and from which he has no escape-a state of thought without the possibility of diversion; of passion without the means of gratification; of society without friendship; of enmity without restraint; of accountableness without excuse; of retribution without mercy; of loss without recovery; and of misery without end? Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. In many cases fear magnifies; and when the evil comes, the reality falls far short of the apprehension. But here the event infinitely exceeds the foreboding. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. No wonder therefore, the death of the sinner is represented in the Scripture as the effect of compulsion-"The wicked is driven away in his wickedness." "He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of this world." Some of these scenes are kept secret-perhaps they are misunderstood. They are ascribed to a distempered imagination. The terrified victim is supposed to be in the phrensy of delirium. Some, by the composing draught are stupified, who would otherwise drive and keep every attendant from the room. Yet the reluctance, and anguish, and horror, are sometimes known; and make an awful impression for the time. But suppose there is nothing of this; and the sinner dies, as it is often expressed, like a lamb; the delusion is but for a moment. He instantly sees his mistake. But the immutability of his state renders the knowledge as dreadful as it is unavoidable. His disappointment is an unspeakable aggravation of his misery; and the consequences are remediless.

O! that you were wise, that you understood this, that you would consider your latter end! Then surely you would not give sleep to your eyes, or slumber to your eyelids, till you had a good hope through grace, that you were delivered from such a doom.

-But you think the end is not near; and distant things do not impress. You put far away the evil day. But can you put it entirely away? Yea, can you really put it far away? How long do you think of living? Fix the period. Place it at three score years and ten, place it at four score years, it is soon cut off, and you flee away-whither? What will become of you then?

But how uncertain is your reaching this period! At what age, in what place, in what condition, in what employment, have not men died? On what are you relying to escape a death which has unexpectedly and prematurely carried so many of your connexions and neighbours down to the dust? On youth? On strength? What is your life? "It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." "Every man at his best state is altogether vanity." O! thou, in whose hands our breath is, and whose are all our ways, so teach us to number our days, that we may apply our heart unto wisdom.

And, my Brethren, what is this wisdom? What is the one proper and rational part which creatures, circumstanced as we are, have to act? Is it not to prefer the soul to the body, and eternity to time? Is it not to agree with our adversary while we are in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver us to the judge, and the judge deliver us to the officer, and we be cast into prison? Is it not to flee for refuge to the hope set before us? Is it not to make the concern of Paul supremely and immediately our own? "That I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death."