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mayest well bear thy cross. If a man on a journey be not well accommodated, where he lodgeth only for a night, he will not trouble himself about the matter, because he is not to stay there; it is not his home. Ye are on the road to eternity; let it not disquiet you, that you meet with some hardships in the inn of this world. Fret not, because it is not so well with you as with some others. One man travels with a cane in his hand; his fellowtraveller (perhaps) has but a common stick, or staff; either of them will serve the turn. It is no great matter which of them be yours; both will be laid aside, when you come to your journey's end.

Thirdly, It may serve for a Bridle, to curb all manner of Lusts, particularly those conversant about the body. A serious visit made to cold death, and that solitary mansion, the grave, might be of good use to repress them.

1st, It may be of use to cause men remit of their inordinate care for the body; which is to many the bane of their souls. Often do these questions, "What shall we eat? What shall we drink? And wherewithal shall we be clothed?" leave no room for another of more importance, viz. "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord ?" The soul is put to the rack, to answer these mean questions, in favour of the body, while its own eternal interests are neglected. But, ah! why are men so busy to repair the ruinous cottage, leaving the inhabitant to bleed to death of his wounds, unheeded, unregarded! Why so much care for the body, to the neglecting of the concerns of the immortal soul! O! be not so anxious for what can only serve your bodies; since, ere long, the clods of cold earth will serve for back and belly too.

2dly, It may abate your pride on account of bodily endowments, which vain man is apt to glory in. Value not yourselves on the blossom of youth; for while ye are in your blooming years, ye are but ripening for a grave; and death gives the fatal stroke, without asking any body's age. Glory not in your strength, it will quickly be gone; the time will soon be, when you shall not be able to turn yourselves on a bed, and you must be carried by your grieving friends to your long home. And what signifies your healthful constitution? Death does not always enter in soonest, where it begins soonest

to knock at the door, but makes as great dispatch with some in a few hours, as with others in many years. Value not yourselves on your beauty, which shall consume in the grave, Psal. xlix. 14. Remember the change death makes on the fairest face, Job xiv. 20. "Thou changest his countenance, and sendeth him away." Death makes the greatest beauty so loathsome, that it must be buried out of sight. Could a looking-glass be used in the house appointed for all living, it would be a terror to those, who now look oftener into their glasses than into their Bibles. And what though the body be gorgeously arrayed: The finest clothes are but badges of our sin and shame; and, in a little time, will be exchanged for a winding-sheet, when the body will become a feast to the worms.

3dly, It may be a mighty check upon sensuality and fleshly lusts, 1 Pet. ii. 11. "I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." It is hard to cause wet wood take fire; and when the fire doth take hold of it, it is soon extinguished. Sensuality makes men unfit for divine communications, and is an effectual means to quench the Spirit. Intemperance in eating and drinking carries on the ruin of soul and body at once; and hastens death, while it makes the man most unfit for it. Therefore take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and so that day come upon you unawares, Luke xxi. 34. But, O! how often is the soul struck through with a dart, in gratifying the senses! At these doors destruction enters in. Therefore, Job made a covenant with his eyes, Chap. xxxi. 1. "The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit; he that is abhorred of the Lord, shall fall therein," Prov. xxii 14. "Let him that standeth take heed, lest he fall." BeWare of lasciviousness; study modesty in your apparel, words and actions. The ravens of the valley of death will, at length, pick out the wanton eye: The obscene, filthy tongue will, at length, be quiet, in the land of silence! And grim death, embracing the body in its cold arms, will effectually allay the heat of all fleshly lusts.

Lastly, In a word, it may check our earthly mindedness; and at once knock down the lust of the flesh, the lust of

die out of Christ, in an unregenerate state, there is no more hope of him for ever. (2.) Seriously consider, what it is to go into another world; a world of spirits, wherewith we are very ill acquainted. How frightful is converse with spirits to poor mortals in this life! And, how dreadful is the case, when men are hurried away into another world, not knowing but devils may be their com panions for ever! Let us then give all diligence, to make and advance our acquaintance with the Lord of that world. (3.) It is but a short time ye have to prepare for death; therefore, now or never; seeing the time assigned for preparation will soon be over, Eccles. ix. 10. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." How can we be idle, having so great a work to do, and so little time to do it in? But, if the time be short, the work of preparation for death, though hard work, will not last long. The shadows of the evening make the labourer work cheerfully; knowing the time to be at hand, when he shall be called in from his labour. (4.) Much of our time is over already; and the youngest of us all cannot assure himself that there is as much of his time to come as is past. Our life in the world is but a short preface to long eternity; and much of the tale is told. Oh! shall we not double our diligence when so much of our time is spent, and so little of our great work is done? (5.) The present time is flying away; and we cannot bring back time past, it hath taken an eternal farewel of us; there is no kindling the fire again that is burnt to ashes. The time to come is not ours; and we have no assurance of a share in it when it comes. We have nothing we can call ours, but the present moment; and that is flying away: How soon our time may be at an end, we know not. Die we must, but who can tell us when? If death kept one set time for all, we were in no hazard of a surprise; but daily observation shews us, there is no such thing. Now, the flying shadow of our life allows no time for loitering. The rivers run speedily into the sea, from whence they came; but not speedily as man to the dust, from whence he came. The stream of time is the swiftest current, and quickly runs out to eternity. Lastly, If once death carry

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us off, there is no coming back again to mend our matters, Job xiv. 14. "If a man die, shall he live again?" Dying is a thing we cannot get a trial of; it is what we can do only once, Heb. ix. 27. It is appointed unto men ONCE to die. And that which can be but once done, and yet is of so much importance, that our all depends on having it done right, we have need to use the utmost diligence, that we may do it well. Therefore, prepare for death, and do it timeously.

If ye who are unregenerate ask me, What ye shall do, to prepare for death, that ye may die safely? I answer, I have told you already, what must be done. And that is, your nature and state must be changed; ye must be born again; ye must be united to Jesus Christ by faith. And till this is done, ye are not capable of other directions, which belong to one's dying comfortably, whereof we may discourse afterwards in due place.

HEAD II.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWIXT THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED IN THEIR DEATH.

PROVERBS xiv. 32,

The Wicked is driven away in his Wickedness: But the Righteous hath hope in his Death.

HIS text looks like the cloud betwixt the Israelites

THI

and Egyptians, having a dark side towards the latter, and a bright side towards the former. It represents death like Pharaoh's jailor, bringing the chief butler and the chief baker out of one prison; the one to be restored to his office, and the other to be led to execution. It shows the difference betwixt the godly and ungodly in their death; who, as they act a very different part in life, so, in death, have a vastly different exit.

First, As to the death of a wicked man; here is, (1.) The manner of his passing out of the world. He is driven away; namely, in his death, as is clear from the opposite clause. He is forcibly thrust out of his place in the world, driven away as chaff before the wind. (2.) The state he passeth away in. He dies in a sinful and hopeless state. First, In a sinful state; he is driven in away his wickedness. He lived in it, and he dies in it; his filthy garments of sin, in which he wrapt up himself in his life, are his prison-garments, in which he shall lie wrapt up for ever. Secondly, In a hopeless state : But the righteous hath hope in his death; which plainly imports the hopelessness of the wicked in their death. Whereby it is not meant, that no wicked man shall have any hope at all, when he is a-dying, but shall die in despair. No

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