this course; this being one of those cases in which men are very nearly agreed. It would be well if their knowledge and their practice equally harmonized; but, alas! what ignorance and infidelity cannot make us deny, sin and the world can make us neglect! this course requires, that you should habituate yourselves to familiar thoughts of Death. This will dissipate the terrors which arise from diftance and imag ination; this will break the force of surprise; this will turn a frightful precipice into a gentle slope. He who can say, "I die daily," is the most likely to diecomfortably. It It requires, that you fhould loosen your affections from the world, A gentle breeze, a slight effort will bring down the tree around which you have dug, and whose larger roots you have cut off. And the less powerfully you are attached to earth-› ly things, the more easy will be your separation from: them. This is the man to die, whose mind advances with his time; who feels himself a stranger and a pilgrim upon earth; whose treasure is in heaven; and. who views dying as only going home. It requires, that you should obtain and preserve the evidences of pardon; without these you cannot be fearless and tranquil· in the near views of eternity, since" after death is the "judgment." It requires you to keep a conscience void of offence towards God and towards, man. he in a condition to die, who has

Is.

lived in the pracomission of some

tice of some known sin, and in the known duty? Is he in a condition to die, who has worn a mask of hypocrisy, which will now drop off and expose him in his true character? Is he in a condition to die, who by artifice, unfair dealing, grinding

the faces of the poor, has amassed gain which will dishonour him if restored, and damn him if retained? It requires us to live in the exercise of brotherly kindness and charity. Of all we do for Him, nothing pleases him more than this, this we know he 'will acknowledge in the day of judgement, and why not in the day of death?" Blessed is he that consider"eth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of "trouble." "The Lord will strengthen him upon "the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed "in his sickness." Many are praying for him; the widows and the fatherless cry, and their cry entereth "the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." It requires an attention to religion in your families. I pity that father, who will be surrounded when he dies with children, whose minds he never informed, whose dispositions he never curbed, whose manners he never guarded; who sees one an infidel, another a profligate, and all irreligious. I know that you are not answerable for the conversion of your offspring, but you are responsible for the use of all proper means; and if these have been neglected, you will plant your dying. pillow with thorns; whereas if you have seriously and perseveringly attended to them, your dying repose shall not be disturbed by want of success; but you shall be able to say, "Although my house be not so with God,

.

yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, "ordered in all things and sure; for this is all my "salvation and all my desire, although he make it not "to grow."

In a word, it requires you to live in the strenuous cultivation of practical and progressive religion.

"And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your ἐσ faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to "knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, pa"tience; and to patience, godliness; and to godli"ness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kind"ness, charity, For if these things be in you, and "abound, they make you that ye shall neither be "barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord "Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is

blind, and cannot see far off, and hath forgotten "that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore "the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your "calling and election sure; for if ye do these things ye shall never fall for so, an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly, into the everlasting "kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

કેંદ્ર

3

My Brethren, If there be such differences among Christians in dying, we may be assured that there will be inequalities in heaven. If there be such diversities in the order of their admission, who can suppose they will all be upon a level as soon as they have entered? There are various ranks and degrees among our fellow-servants and elder brethren, thrones and dominions, principalities and powers. The works of God on earth and in the visible heavens are distinguished by a pleasing variety; "All flesh is not the same "flesh but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of

ઠંડ

birds. There are also celestial bodies and bodies "terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, "and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is "one glory of the sun, and another glory of the

Ccc

"moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star "differeth from another star in glory. So also is the "resurrection of the dead." Let us therefore look to "ourselves that we receive a full reward."

It is impossible to close without asking you in the presence of God, What preparation have you made for a dying hour? Surely you do not expect to live here always; you know that you must die; and if ever you think of it, you cannot help wishing to die in peace. But can you hope to conclude in comfort, a life passed in guilt? "Be not deceived; God is not "mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall "he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall "of the flesh reap corruption: but he that soweth to "the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." You are not in a state to die even SAFely. have only heard what you have to lose. To you No entrance will be administered.

But I address myself to Christians; you to think much of a dying hour.

You

and call upon The care of dyValue things

ing well, will influence you to live so. according to the views you will have of them, when you look back from the borders of the grave. You see the blessedness we speak of does not depend upon genius, learning, earthly riches, worldly distinctions. But some things have a favourable influence over a dying hour; value, select, pursue these. By such a death, regulate your plans of living. Be piously ambitious; seek after spiritual prosperity; be rich in faith; be filled with the fruits of righteousness; give all diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end. Happy is the man who is no longer "in bon

dage through fear of death;" who can think with composure of "the house appointed for all living who can spend an hour among the tombs, and say, "Well, hither I have no reluctance to come when my "heavenly Father sends the summons. I know in "whom I have believed; and am persuaded that He "is able to keep that which I have committed to him "against that day." "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, who giveth us the victory "through our Lord Jesus Christ,"