the Son of God lying down there? Why shouldst thou be afraid to lay thy head in the dust? It is but entering into God's hiding-place,' into his chambers of rest and repose: It is but committing thy flesh, the meaner part of thy composition, to his care in the dark for a short season: He will hide thee there, and keep thee in safety from the dreadful trials which perhaps would overwhelm thy spirit. Sometimes in the course of his providence he may find it necessary that some spreading calamity should overtake the place where thou dwellest, or some distressing stroke fall upon thy family, or thy friends, but he will hide thee under ground before it comes, and thus disappoint all thy fears, and lay every perplexing thought into rest and silence.

Reflect. 2. Let it be ever remembered, that the grave is God's hiding-place and not our own: We are to venture into it without terror when he calls us; but he does not suffer us to break into it our own without his call. Death and life are in the hands way of God, and he never gave the keys of them to mortal men, to let themselves out of this world when they please, nor to enter his hiding-place without his leave.

Bear up then, O my soul, under all the sorrows and trials of this present state, till God himself shall say, it is finished; till our blessed Jesus, who has the keys put into his hands, shall open the door of death, and give thee an entrance into that dark and peaceful retreat. It is a safe and silent refuge from the bustle and the noise, the labours and the troubles of life;

but he that forces it open with his own hands, how will he dare to appear before God in the world of spirits? What will he answer, when with a dreadful frown the great God shall demand of him, "friend, how comest thou in hither ?" Who sent for thee, or gave thee leave to come? Such a wretch must venture upon so rash an action at the peril of the wrath of God, and his own eternal destruction.

Our blessed Jesus, who has all the vast scheme of divine counsels before his eyes, by having the books of his Father's degrees put into his hands, he knows how long it is proper for thee, O Christian, to fight and labour, to wrestle and strive with sins, temptations and difficulties in the present life: He knows best in what moment to put a period to them, and pronounce thee conqueror. Fly not from the field of battle for want of holy fortitude, though thy enemies and thy dangers be never so many, nor dare to dismiss thyself from thy appointed post, till the Lord of life, pronounce the word of thy dismission.

Sometimes I have been ready to say within myself, why is my life prolonged in sorrow? Why are my days lengthened out to see further wretchedness? Methinks the "grave should be ready for me, and the house appointed for all the living." What can I do further for God or for man here on earth, since my nature pines away with painful sickness, my nerves are unstrung, my spirits dissipated, and my best powers of acting are enfeebled and almost lost? Peace, peace, O thou complaining spirit! Dost thou know the counsels of the Almighty, and the secret

designs of thy God and thy Saviour? He has many deep and unknown purposes in continuing his children amidst heavy sorrows, which they can never penetrate or learn in this world. Silence and submission becomes thee at all times. "Father, not my will but thy will be done."

And let it be hinted to thee, O my soul, that it is much more honourable to be weary of this life, because of the sins and temptations of it, than because of the toils and sorrows that attend it. If we must "6 'groan in this tabernacle being burdened," let the snares, and the dangers, and the defilements of it be the chief springs of thy groaning and the warmest motives to request a release. God loves to see his people more afraid of sin than of sorrow. If thy corruptions are so strong, and the temptations of life so unhappily surround thee, that thou art daily crying out, "who shall deliver thee from the body of sin and death," then thou mayest more honourably send up a wish to heaven, “O that I had the wings of a dove, that I might fly away and be at rest! O that God would hide me in the grave" from my prevailing iniquities, and from the ruffling and disquieting influence of my own follies and my daily temptations! But never be thou quite weary of doing or suffering the will of thy heavenly Father, though he should continue thee in this mortal life a length of years beyond thy desires, and should withhold thee from his secret place of retreat and rest.

A constant and joyful readiness at the call of God to depart hence, with a cheerful patience to continue

here during his pleasure, is the most perfect and blessed temper that a Christian can arrive at: It gives God the highest glory, and keeps the soul in the sweetest peace.

'

Reflect. 3. This one thought, that the grave is God's hiding-place,' should compose our spirits to silence, and abate our mourning for the loss of friends, who have given sufficient evidence that they are the children of God. Their heavenly Father has seized them from the midst of their trials, dangers and difficulties, and given them a secure refuge in his own appointed place of rest and safety. Jesus has opened the door of the grave with his golden key, and hath let them into a chamber of repose: He has concealed them in a silent retreat, where temptation and sin cannot reach them, and where anguish and misery

can never come.

When I have lost therefore a dear and delightful relative or friend, or perhaps many of them in a short season are called successively down to the dust, let me say thus within myself, "It is their God and my God has done it: He saw what new temptations were ready to surround them in the circumstances of life wherein they stood: He beheld the trials and difficulties that were ready to encompass them on all sides, and his love made a way for their escape: He opened the dark retreat of death, and hid them there from a thousand perils which might have plunged them into guilt and defilement: He beheld this as the proper season to give them a release from a world of labour and toil, vanity and vexation, sin and sorrow: They are taken away from the evil to come, and

I will learn to complain no more. The blessed Jesus to whom they had devoted themselves, well knew what allurements of gaiety and joy might have been too prevalent over them, and he gave them a kind escape lest their souls should suffer any real detri. ment, lest their strict profession of piety should be soiled or dishonoured: He knew how much they were able to bear, and he would lay upon them no further burden: He saw rising difficulties approaching, and new perils coming upon them beyond their strength, and he fulfils their own promises, and glorifies his own faithfulness, by opening the door of his well-known hiding-place, and giving them a safe refuge there. He keeps them there in secret from the corruptions of a public life, and the multiplied dangers of a degenerate age, which might have divided their hearts from God and things heavenly: And perhaps he guards them also in that dark retreat from some long and languishing sickness, some unknown distress, some overbearing flood of misery, which was like to come upon them had they continued longer on the stage of life.

"Let this silence thy murmuring thoughts, O my soul; let this dry up thy tears which are ready to overflow on such an occasion. Dare not pronounce it a stroke of anger from the hand of God, who divided them from the tempting or the distressing scenes of this world, and kindly removed them out of the way of danger. This was the wisest method of his love to guard them from many a folly and many a sorrow, which he foresaw just at the door."