troubles. Here he was company for felons and malefactors in a Jail; there he would meet with prophets, saints, and angels. Here he was apprehended and tried at the pleasure of outrageous Jews and unbelieving Heathens; there he would find the Almighty judge of Jew and Gentile his best friend, his advocate, and his Saviour. Here he lived a daily death; there he would enter upon the enjoyment of life, without end and without interruption. These things being weighed in the balance together, he determined wisely and truly to die is gain-I desire to depart and to be with Christ.

But if the matter is so clear, how is it that we hear him complain of being in a strait betwixt two? Was there any doubt that Death would be better to him than life? Or did his faith fail upon a nearer view of that dark and untried passage, which leads from this world to the other? Neither of these things happened to him: his choice was not a doubtful one, nor did his faith fail him; but to his honour it must be confessed, that an higher principle got the better of it. Like a tender father dying before his time, and anxious for the safety of those he is leaving behind, the wife of his bosom, and a family of children not yet grown up and able to provide for themselves; even so did this blessed Apostle consider, how necessary his presence was for the benefit and direction of the family of Christians but lately added to the Church by his preaching, and not yet established in the faith-therefore he checks his desire in the following words-nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. For the good of his brethren (or rather his children) he receded from his own wishes, and was content, for their sakes, to renew all the labours and sufferings of his ministry, and to put off

the enjoyment of heaven itself. His desire to depart was that of a spiritual man, whose affections had lifted him above the world and the flesh; and we may think it impossible for him to soar any higher, after such a declaration of his faith and hope: But he himself hath taught us, that charity is above them both; therefore his best thoughts and desires were over-ruled by this divine principle.

It may now be useful to show, that every true Christian hath reason to judge in the same manner with the Apostle, and wish rather to depart and be with Christ than to abide here in the flesh.

It is not the lot of private Christians in these days to be stoned, and imprisoned, and shipwrecked, as St. Paul was. But nevertheless they are exposed to afflictions, and trials, and dangers, more than enough to make the argument complete. For so long as the. Christian abides here in the flesh, his bodily part is subject to that curse and penalty, which sin has unhappily brought upon the works of God. He is a part of that creation, the whole of which groaneth and travaileth in pain together. This burden extends to man and beast: yea the very elements themselves are disordered with fire and hail, wind and storm, fulfilling the commands of an offended Creator.

From this common law of vanity the Christian is no more exempt than other men-ourselves also (saith the Apostle) which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. If we open our eyes to take a view of the world, it will appear like one great Hospital, abounding with spectacles of sickness and misery; some pining and wasting away with consumptions; others labouring for breath with an asthma, or shaking with a palsy, or

tortured with the insupportable agonies of the stone. Some have lost their sight; others, what is more precious, their reason and understanding: many are bowed down with the hopeless affliction of incurable diseases; and if some amongst us feel as if they were now in possession of their strength, let them wait awhile, and they will soon find it changed into labour and sorrow.

account.

So much for the body: but the mind is of greater The soul of man is lodged in the body, as in its tabernacle or dwelling; but such a dwelling of clay, as we now inhabit, serves rather as a prison to shut up and restrain the faculties of the understanding. The Soul in its own nature is sharp and piercing; but while it abides here, it is like a sword rusting in the scabbard. It is formed for reason and reflection, but the more it muses upon many things, and gives itself up to those pleasures that are afforded by the contemplation of truth, so much the more is it pressed down by the corruptible body in which it is confined. It would understand high things, and fly up as an eagle toward heaven; but it is like a bird endeavouring to take wing, while a weight of lead, tied to its feet, still brings it back again and confines it to the earth.

Such are the evils which the Christian finds within himself. If he looks without himself, he sees a world in all respects like an howling wilderness, full of wild beasts ready to devour him.

There is Satan, that roaring lion, always seeking his prey about the Church and amongst the servants of God. There are Wolves in sheep's, and sometimes in shepherd's clothing, stealing away and worrying the flock of Christ. There are Foxes, subtle and false teachers, and seducing Spirits in all shapes,

ready to corrupt his mind, and draw him away from that faith which would otherwise lead him to salvation. There are wild Boars, rooting up the vineyard of the Lord, tyrants and persecutors oppressing his servants, and laying waste his heritage.

If we look to his body, that is exposed to the secret treachery of the dissembling friend, and the open violence of the declared enemy. His soul is subject to deadly and destructive lusts of the flesh, the dangerous allurements of worldly vanity, and all the suggestions of that grand seducer, who brought death and misery into the world. His goods are exposed to the greediness of the extortioner, the violence of the robber; his lands and houses to overflowing rains, fires, and all misfortunes. His good name is open to slander, his person to contempt and injury. His brethren should be his support and strength, but are often his betrayers; and the best comforts of his life do rarely or never fail to be the sources of much sorrow and vexation.

These things are common to all men; but many of them are more common to the good man than the evil, and some of them are peculiar to him. Many are the troubles of the righteous, said David; and the way to heaven is through many tribulations. Christ bequeathed as a legacy to all his disciples peace amongst themselves, but tribulation in the world; and he that is a Christian indeed must expect to find it. Therefore afflictions are more common than death; Enoch and Elias escaped the latter; but none was ever exempt from the former. Nay, they are more common than sin itself, which hath laid hold upon all men; for Christ lived without sin, but not without

sorrow.

Labour then is a law to all that have Adam for

their father, and Crosses are a curse upon all that

have Eve for their mother.

But all these miseries are
The bond-slave is set at

at once relieved by death. liberty, and the captive exile loosed from his chain: the brow sweateth not, and the heart careth not any longer. The body defieth famine, sword, and pestilence; and the soul is out of the reach of sin and temptation.

The primitive Christians were so sensible of these things, that they had a way of expressing them all in one word by calling their death an exodus; meaning by the application of this term, that death was to them what the exodus, or departure from Egypt, was to the Israelites; who, when they were brought to the passage of the Red Sea, had Egypt on this side, and Canaan on the other; the Land of Promise before them, and the house of bondage behind them. Of this latter we have had some prospect in what hath already been said; and now let us examine, as well as we can, what the former is.

Here I am authorised by the Scriptures to affirm, that the soul of a Christian, when it is departed from the flesh, does neither fall into a state of insensibility, nor enter upon that perfect enjoyment of which it will partake after the resurrection of the body. Our Saviour argued against the Sadducees from that expression in the Old Testament, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, that these Patriarchs were yet alive, because God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for they all live

unto him.

Thus may we more clearly argue from many declarations in the New Testament, particularly that of St. Paul, We are willing, I say, and confident, rather to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord.