years, is not likely to be the better for them at the end of fo many generations.

No time muft

Therefore a divine foul, which afpires after immortality, fhould lofe no time to raise itfelf above the body, to conquer this prefent world by the belief and be left in the hope of things unfeen, to awaken and exercise its parfait of fpiritual powers and faculties, and to adorn itself virtue. with thofe graces and virtues which come down from the Father of lights, and which by the mercies of God, and the merits of our Saviour, will carry us to heaven; efpecially when he is threatened with endless mifery for the neglect of his falvation. So, how hard foever the libertine may think it to be eternally damned for the fhort pleasures of fin, no man can reasonably think it a hard condition of eternal falvation to spend a fhort life in the fervice of God their Maker; which fervice can no where be performed but upon earth: For, if God may justly require our fervices and obedience for fo great a reward as a crown of eternal glory; if nature, in its corrupt ftate, must be born again, and cleanfed from all filth of fin; if this body must be refined and fpiritualised, before it can be glorified; where must this work be perfected, if not upon earth? For flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

We have no information by holy writ of any middle ftate between living in this body and out of it; and of a middle therefore whatever difpofitions and habits of the state. mind are neceffary to make us happy, when the foul departs from the body, must be formed while we live in these bodies of flesh. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body; yet that is not first which is fpiritual, but that which is natural, and afterwards that which is fpiritual. Therefore as it is impoffible to pafs immediately from the opposite natural ftate of the earth to the spiritual state of heaven; we must be convinced, that the middle ftate in which we are spiritualised, between heaven and earth, is a life of holiness during the time we inhabit these earthly tabernacles: because fuch a man, living in the world, and having put off its lufts, and fixed his mind on things above, belongs to both worlds; his heart and affections are in heaven; he by faith meditates upo

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upon those invisible glories, and feels and relishes the pleafures of an heavenly ftate, while he is yet united to this world by his body, which is made of earth, and feels the natural impreffion of fenfible objects. So, whoever has his converfation in heaven, while he lives upon earth, is ready prepared and fitted to afcend with the Bridegroom, when death fhall knock at the door; pafling from thence, as it were, through a middle region, or a state of a holy and divine life, into a perfect state of eternal happiness.

Since then death puts an end to our days, in which we are to ferve God, and prepare for eternity, and deterThe danger and felly of mines our future ftate for ever; and knowing that a mij pent this death comes but once, it is of infinite confelife. quence, that when death comes, we may be well prepared for his fummons into eternity. And who is the perfon that would not take the utmost caution in doing that, which can be done only once for his whole life, especially if the happiness of the whole life depends thereon? No error can be corrected in what is to be done but once: and fhall that perfon hope for pardon, who permits death to surprise him; who falls into the grave without thought of futurity, or, what is worse, not only neglects, but, it may be, makes a jeft of fin, and defies God and his judgments? A wife man will ufe great caution in making an experiment, that can never be tried a second time, and which, if it fail, must absolutely coft him his life; which is the very cafe of all men, in regard of death: we can die but once, and, if we miscarry that once, we are undone for ever: yet this is the dangerous experiment made every day by finners, who stake their fouls at random, endeavour to ftifle the checks of confcience, put off their repentance, in hopes that death is still far off, that fickness and God's holy Spirit will call them in time to repent; and, at the beft, venture the infinite hazard of a deathbed repentance. Oh! let no one be deceived! that man will be miferable, who is fo weak to think that a few distracted, confused, and almost despairing fighs and groans can obtain pardon and forgivenefs for a mif-fpent life. Alas! if fuch bold adventurers, as thefe, could return back into the world, and live their lives over again, after they have discovered their mistake and folly, the hazard would not be fo great; but this

is impoffible. Whoever walks in the paths of unrighteoufnefs till he is hardened in fin, and, having grieved the Spirit, is forfaken of the grace of God; whoever is cut off by death, by surprise or without warning, while he continues in fin, must be loft for ever; because he dies without that repentance to falvation, never to be repented of. Is not then that man most foolish, who takes no care, before death comes, to make his calling and election fure?

this world,

Remember then that thou must die! and that will furnish thee with a perpetual remedy against the follies and How we are vanities of this wicked world, and promote the to live in growth of chriftian piety. Whenever a man finds in order for that his defires after this world exceed their limita- a better life. tions in the gospel, let him remember the fool in the gofpel, whofe foul was required of him the fame night, that he inlarged his defires beyond the wants and conveniencies of life. Let him remember, that he can have no continuing abode here, and that death will fhortly clofe his eyes, and the grave will presently swallow him up, and then all his thoughts perish, and his riches cannot follow him. In this decay of nature, it would deserve our confideration, that neither fortune nor honours will avail us in the day of the Lord, any farther than the good use we have made of them in this world, and, unless the rich and honourable are more virtuous than he, they are not better than the pooreft man, who begs an alms in the name of the Lord: for with God there is no refpect of perfons; because they are not the riches, &c. of the body, but the beauties and glories of the fpirit, which are pleafing in the fight of God; for it is godlinefs that is great gain. And if there can be no truft nor hope in riches nor honours, What folly is it for a man to be intoxicated with the love of fenfual pleasures, which muftall perish with the body. The foul, which defires to live for ever, must not be weakened with ease, and foftness, and luxury, which are the plain paths to hell; but must be accustomed to feek after eternal pleasures, which accompany her beyond the grave, and, being ftript of flesh and blood, inable her to live for ever. Not that I fay, or fuppofe, that men, who must make a neceffary provifion for the body in this life, can fo live always here, as if the next moment were to end their lives; Who then would

be

be faved? but only that our lives fhould always be as innocent, free from malice, injuftice, and oppreffion, as if we were immediately to appear before the judgment-feat of Christ; that is, we may, and we must always live as thofe who must certainly die, and guard all our actions with the thoughts that they must all one day be accounted for.

Death, why

to human

How its

:

VI. The common and very proper name of death is the king of terrors; because it is the most terrible thing fo dreadful to mankind. The natural principle of felf-prefervation, and the love of life, create in all men a nanature. tural averfion to death for, as the Preacher obferves, As light is fweet, and a pleafant thing it is to behold the fun; fo, as all men love life, its neceffary confequence is to fear death which averfion to death God has imprinted in man, to oblige us to take care of ourselves, and to avoid whatever will deftroy or shorten our lives; and this in many paticulars is a great principle of virtue, fo far as it preferves us from all fatal and deftructive vices. Yet when this natural fear of death is not increased by extraordinary caufes, it may be conquered by the force of found reafon. Thus many examples teach, that the miferies and calamities of this fear is re- life very often reconcile men to death, and make moved. them earnestly defire it; as in thecafe of Job, who in the midst of his afflictions faid, My foul chufeth ftrangling and death rather than life; I loath it, I would not live alway. Whence obferve, that, if the fense of present suffering can conquer the fears of death, there is no doubt but the hope of immortal life may do the fame in a more eminent degree; for, where men are thoroughly convinced, that by death they are to be translated to a more happy ftate, it would be as eafy a thing to put off these bodies, as to change their cloaths, or to remove from an old ruinous house to a more convenient and beautiful dwelling-place. This is the very cafe of a dying christian, whofe fear of death arifing naturally either from the thoughts of ceafing to be, or an unwillingness to change this life for one he knows nothing of, is taken away by the gospel revelation, which discovers tousa new and glorious world, where we, if we now improve our time, may live for ever. Thus a chriftian, whofe life is comformable to the doctrine and example of his Saviour, fees nothing frightful or

terrible

terrible in death, which, thro' the infirmity of the flesh, his body naturally startles at, and draws back from, as he meets with it in the way to immortal life: therefore, tho' we cannot expect wholly to conquer our natural averfion to death, we can always have hope of a blessed immortality, and, with St. that upon, Paul, defire, if not to be unclothed, to be clothed mortality may be swallowed up of life, 2 Cor. v. 4. Confequently, the only way to arm ourselves against these natural fears of dying is to confirm ourselves in this belief, that death does not put an end to us, that our fouls fhall furvive in a state of bliss and happiness, though our bodies fhall turn to duft, and that these mortal bodies fhall themselves rife again immortal and glorious at the found of the last trump; for the trumpet fhall found, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. So, the man, who believes and expects this, can have no reason to be afraid of death on the contrary, he has great reafon not to fear death, tho' he tremble a little under the weakness and averfions of nature in its degenerate ftate. But,

ble.

As fin is the cause of death, so also it is that only which makes death itself moft terrible. It is not barely Sin makes the feparation of foul and body, which is the ter- our deat ror of death to a chriftian; but that feparation, as most terriinflicted by, and accompanied with, the wrath of God. It is fin only, which is the horror of death, and which gives it that sting, which makes it really infupportable even to the most distant thought. When the death of the body is the forerunner of that death of the foul, from which there is no hope of release, but the wrath of God must abide on it for ever; then it is that death appears truly dreadful and terrible. This is that which makes wicked men, confcious of their own guilt, and fenfible of the wrath of God hanging over their heads, fo amazed at the approach, and even at the thoughts of death: They cannot bear to think on fo affrightinga profpect, but are even overwhelmed and fwallowed up with aftonifhmentand defpair. Forawicked man to confider, that the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, and confequently that he is of the number of thofe, whom God hates and defpifes, muft ftrike the finner through with horror and amazement and make him tremble even in the midst of his great

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eft