all fhadows fly away? 6. It is a life of calamities and fears it is like a ftormy fea, where one wave rolls upon the back of another; and when one calamity is paft, we many time fear a greater is coming; and fometimes the heavens turn fo black and gloomy, that we fear a hurricane of judgment is ready to blow. And, fhould you not blefs God, when he comes by death to houfe your fouls, and fet you out of harm's way? It is in mercy that God takes away the righteous from the evil to come, Ifa. lvii. 1. So dealt he with Jofiah, 2 Kings xxii. 20. "I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be put into thy grave in peace, and thine eyes fhall not fee all the evil which I fhail bring upon this place." So it is obfervable, that Methufalah died the very year before the flood; Auguftine a little before the facking of Hippo; Pareus just before the taking of Heidelberg. Luther obferves, that all the Apoftles died before the deftruction of Jerufalem. And Luther himself died before the bloody wars broke out in Germany. Thus God frequently hides his people from the temptations and troubles that are coming on the earth. Why? He fees many of them not in cafe to endure them; and therefore, he in mercy takes them away from a tempting and finning world, to a land of holinefs and rest. While we are here, we live in a world that lies in wickednefs; every fenfe of the body betrays the foul into fin; the poor foul can scarce look out at the eye, and not be infected, nor hear by the ear, and not be distracted, nor fmell at the nostrils, and not be tainted, nor tafte by the tongue, and not be allured, nor touch by the hand, and not be defiled.

O believer, what is this life that thou att fo fond of? It is but a living death, or a dying life. It is full of grief for things paft, full of labour for things prefent, and full of fears for things future. The first part of our life is fpent in folly, the middle part is overwhelmed with cares, and the latter part of it is burdened with infirmities and age. And, what gain we by the prolonging of this life? Nothing but to do more evil, VOL. I.

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fee more evil, and fuffer more evil. And fhould a Christian be unwilling to be rid of thofe grievances? 2dly, Confider that dying is appointed as the way, and the only way, to glory: there is no way to enter the promised land, but by croffing the Jordan of death. And fhould not a ftranger defire to be at home with his friends, though he hath a rough way and stormy fea to pass? Is there any home like heaven, where your incomparable friend Christ is? O what a happiness is it to be with Chrift, and to see him as he is! How happy do you think Peter, James and John were, in being taken up to mount Tabor, to be eye-witneffes of their Saviour's transfiguration. But, O believer, death procures a greater happiness to you; it ufhers you to mount Zion, where you shall not only fee your Saviour whiter than the fnow, and brighter than the fun, but yourfelf transfigured with him, made like him, and eternally fecured of his prefence. The three Apoftles fäw but two Prophets; but you fhall fee all the Prophets, all the Apoftles, all the Patriarchs, all the Martyrs, all the holy perfons you once converfed with on earth, and in general all the faints in heaven, each of them fhining as the fun; and how fweet will their company be? O how foon will the trifles of the world vanifh, and all its pleasures be forgot, when once the believer gets a view of that captivating glory above! When the shepherds heard but foms few notes of the angels fongs, who praised God at the nativity of our Saviour, they prefently left their flocks, and ran to Bethlehem to behold the child Jefus lying in the manger; but much more caufe hath a believer to leave all the pleasures of the world, and run to behold an exalted Jefus fitting on the throne of his glory, with all his faints and angels finging praises around him.

If Cato and Cleombrotus, two Heathens, after reading Plato's book of the immortality of the foul, did voluntarily, the one fall on his fword, the other break his neck from a precipice, that they might the fooner come (as they fancied) to partake of thofe joys; what a fhame is it for Chriftians, who have a far furer and clearer difcovery of these things from God's own book,

to

to be found unwilling to enter into these heavenly joys, when their bleffed Redeemer calls for them thither.

3. Confider how willing Chrift was to come from heaven to earth for you; and, fhould you be unwilling to remove from earth to heaven for him? Yea, for yourselves, for the gain is yours. O did Chrift affume your nature, become obedient to death, and purchase an inheritance for you with his blood; and, will you be backward to go and take poffeffion of it? O for a Chrift-like obedience at death!

Laftly, Confider what a reproach is caft on Christianity by a believer's unwillingness to die. For Chriftians to pray, and fpeak much of Chrift, of heaven and Glory, and yet be unwilling to enter into that glory; what is it but a misbelieving of God and a tempting of strangers, to think there is no reality in religion?

Queft." Since death is not eafy to grapple with, how fhall I attain to this bleffed difpofition, and a wil lingness to die?"

Anf. 1. Be frequently putting forth the acts of faith upon the righteoufnefs of Chrift; and believe that Chrift died to bring in a perfect righteoufnefs for believers, that they all may be complete in him. Now, why fhould a believer be afraid to appear before God in Chrift's righteousness, which is fo pleafing and acceptable to him? Rev. xiv. 4. 5. They are faid to be without fault before the throne of God. If a believer were to appear before God in his own righteoufnefs, clothed with his own duties and performances, it would be dreadful to think of dying; but to have the white garment of an elder brother to put on, gives another view of death. Alas, it is our neglecting the daily exercife of faith, in the righteousness of Chrift, that makes the thoughts of death fo unwelcome.

2. When you attain to peace and reconciliation with God, labour to preferve it. Be ftating and clearing counts with God every day, and watch against these fins that wound confcience, wafte comfort, and grieve the Spirit of adoption. When we think God is difpleafed with us, we will be afraid of going to him.

3. Study to be more denied to the enjoyments of

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this life, and to use them with a holy indifference; otherwife there will be an unwillingness to leave these things.

4. Labour to be deeply fenfible of the burden of indwelling fin and corruption, and the workings thereof in your hearts; and this will make the thoughts of death welcome, because it eternally delivers you from

it.

5. Seek further discoveries of the loveliness of Christ, and the daily exercise and increase of your soul's love to him for it is the nature of love to long after communion with the perfon that we love.

6. Make death familiar to you, by the frequent forethoughts of it. Retire often from the world to think of dying, when you are in beft health.

7. Be much taken up in the sweet employments of praifing God, and exalting the worthy Lamb that was flain; and this will incline you to be there, where this is the continued work.

Laftly, Be often thinking of these warnings and forerunners of death, which God fends to wean your heart from the love of life, and difpofe you to a willingness to die. For this end, God fends manifold diseases, pains, infirmities, wants, ftraits, loffes, croffes, difappointments, &c. And, in a fpecial manner, let old people view the forerunners and harbingers of death, which God fends to prepare his way: fuch as the decays and infirmities of old age, which we have elegantly defcribed in figurative expreffions, Ecclef. xii. ii. "Then the light of the fun, moon and stars fhall be darkened; i. e. in old perfons, the intellectual powers and faculties, which are as lights in the foul, fhall be weakened. And then do " the clouds return after rain;" i e. their diftempers are frequent, like a continual dropping in a very rainy day, and the ending of one is but the beginning of another." Ver. 3. "Then the keepers of the houfe do tremble ;" i. e. the head and hands, which were employed for the prefervation of the body, do fhake. The ftrong men bow themselves;" the legs and thighs, which are the pillars of the house, become weak and feeble. The grinders eafe, because they are few;" i.e.

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the teeth, which, like the upper and nether milftone, do grind our meat, and prepare it for concoction, then ceafe to do their part. "Thofe that look out of the windows are darkened," i. e. The eyes wax dim, whereby God calls us to turn them away from beholding vanity, and to look after the things that are not feen, ver. 4. "The daughters of mufic are brought low:" i. e. They have neither voice nor ears; they can neither fing themselves, nor take pleasure in the voice of finging men or finging women. Then death pulls us, as it were, by the ear, to think on the mufic above, ver 5. "The almond tree flourifheth;" i. e. The hair grows white, like an almond tree in the bloffom. And, as the outward parts of the body do weaken and decay, fo alfo do the inward parts: Therefore it is faid, ver. 6. "The filver cord fhall be loofed, the golden bowl broken, the pitcher broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern:" i. e. The filver cord of the finews is loofed, which carries the faculty of fenfe and motion from the head through the body. The head, which, like a golden bowl or box, contains the brain, that is the fountain of fenfe and motion, through age is broken, and turns crazy. The many pitchers of the veins, which carry the nourishing blood from the well of the liver unto each part of the body, become like broken veffels. And the wheel of the arteries, which convey the vital fpirits from the heart to the feveral members for quickening them, begin to turn faint and languid. All these things do warn old perfons to take their affections off time's things, and fet them on things above, that they may be helped to fay, we "defire to depart, and to be with Chrift."

But, after all, fome believers will have objections against willingness to die, fome whereof I fhall confider.

Object. I. "I am threatened to be cut off in the flower of mine age."

Anf. Inftead of fretting on this account, you ought rather to adore and praife a gracious God, that is willing to bestow the reward of the whole day upon thee, who haft only laboured fome hours of it. Praife him,

that