of faith in the great and precious promises of God. It argues an undue attachment to the world and the things of the world. It argues the inconstancy and deficiency of supreme love to God. These unholy affections must be extremely strong to counteract the great and good reasons which christians have, to hope and wait for their appointed change, which will put them into the immediate possession of their heavenly inheritance. It is not so strange nor so criminal for the men of the world to love the world and pursue the world, as for those whom God has chosen out of the world, and set apart for himself, and entitled to all the blessings of his kingdom, to live unmindful of it, unthankful for it, and unwilling to take possession of it. It is extremely unbecoming and criminal for real christians to set their affections on things below, and not on things above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, where the spirits of just men are made perfect, and where all good is for ever to be enjoyed. But do saints at this day appear so heavenly minded, as saints of old? Do they appear generally to be desiring and waiting for permission to retire from the stage of life? Do they not generally manifest a too strong attachment to the present life, and too little desire for the life to come? Can they reconcile such feelings and conduct with the profession they have made, with the obligations they are under, and with the reasons they have to die daily, and to live in the lively hope of the holiness and happiness which they expect to enjoy beyond the grave? It highly becomes them and concerns them, to walk worthy of their high calling, and of the glorious prospects opened before them in the gospel.

2. If good men have such good reasons to hope and wait for their appointed change, then it is of great importance to make their calling and election sure, because without this, they cannot properly wait for the day of death. The scripture every where teaches the doctrine of saints' assurance as well as perseverance. The Old Testament saints speak the language of assurance, and never manifest any doubts of their good estate. Job expressly declared, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." The worthies mentioned in the eleventh of Hebrews, verbally and practically declared their undoubting assurance of a future and blessed immortality in the presence and favor of God. And the apostle Paul maintained the hope and assurance of eternal life to his dying day, which gave him joy and triumph in the nearest view of eternity. "I am now ready to be offered," says he, "and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give

me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." The apostle Peter likewise represents christians in general as obtaining and maintaining assurance of their good estate, and, for the same purpose, of enjoying a peaceful and happy transition out of this world, into the kingdom of glory. "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you, through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Here the apostle not only exhorts christians to give diligence to make their calling and election sure, but to persevere in the exercise of those gracious affections which will afford assurance, and secure a joyful entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Since assurance is attainable in the way the apostle points out, it is of importance that christians should attain it, to prepare themselves for living as well as for dying. For so long as they live in doubts and fears respecting their spiritual state, they cannot comfortably wait for their appointed change. They must be continually subject to bondage through fear of death; and dread, rather than wait for that event which they ought, for their own peace, and the honor of religion, to meet with joy and hope.

over.

3. If good men, for good reasons, do wait in the manner that has been described, for the day of their decease, then they derive a happiness from their religion, to which sinners are strangers. Here is a dividing line which sinners cannot pass They can pass over many other things in the conduct and character of christians, and stand side by side with them, with great confidence and self-approbation. If christians are industrious and laborious in their callings, so are they. If christians are honest in their dealings, so are they. If christians are faithful to their trusts, so are they. If christians are beneficent to others, so are they. If christians avoid profaneness, levity, and every appearance of external evil, so do

they. If christians maintain family prayer, attend public wor ship, and hear the word of God with seriousness and attention, so do they. But if christians do really desire and wait for their appointed change, here they fail, and shrink from the comparison. They are conscious to themselves, that they have not lived in the habitual expectation of death; that they have not lived in the habitual contemplation of it, but have endeavored to banish it from their minds; and that they never have desired to be absent from the body and present with the Lord, in order to enjoy that holiness, that knowledge, and that rest which remaineth for the people of God. In a word, they are conscious to themselves, that they never have been willing to leave this world, and go to any other. Here they are constrained to acknowledge the reality and importance of vital piety, which prepares men to live comfortably, die victoriously, and enjoy everlasting blessedness in the world to come. Here they are constrained to feel, if not to say, "The righteous are the excellent of the earth." Here they feel their inferiority, and are conscious, notwithstanding all their worldly attainments and enjoyments, that they are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. They are totally destitute of and strangers to that permanent source of happiness which those enjoy who live by faith in the great and precious promises of God. Their path is growing darker and darker, while the path of the just is shining brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked," either in life, or in death; "for the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

4. If good men have good reasons to hope and wait for their appointed change, then, if they do not properly and habitually wait and hope for it, they have reason to expect that they shall die in darkness and distress. It may be one of the criminal imperfections of real christians to be so much attached to the world, and so much absorbed in its cares and concerns, as to forget that the grave is their house, and that they are constantly and rapidly hastening to their long home. Many, like Martha, are careful and troubled about many things which are unworthy of their supreme regard, and inattentive to the one thing needful. Though they believe that they shall die, yet they do not set their hearts nor their houses in order, in a practical preparation for their dying hour. As their forgetfulness of death, judgment and eternity is highly displeasing to God, so he may justly leave and forsake them, when their appointed change comes. And there is reason to think that God often

does deny his gracious presence and the light of his countenance to those christians who have lived too unmindful and unprepared for their great and last change. It is a just remark, founded upon general observation, that good men as well as bad commonly die very much as they lived. If they have lived in stupidity, they die in stupidity. If they have lived in darkness, they die in darkness. If they have lived in hope, they die in hope. If they have waited for death, they die in peace and joy. If real christians, therefore, neglect to keep their hearts with all diligence, and to consider seriously and habitually their latter end, they may expect to meet the king of terrors with dismay, and have their sun go down in a cloud.

5. If good men alone have good reasons to hope and wait for death, then it concerns one person as well as another to become good. It is appointed to all men once to die, and there is no discharge in that war. All must sooner or later leave this world and go into another, where their state will be irreversibly fixed during the interminable ages of eternity; and nothing can prepare them for their future and final condition, but repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It will be as fatal to the rich as to the poor, to the high as to the low, to live and die in impenitence and unbelief. Every person has every thing to gain by godliness, and every thing to lose by ungodliness. Godliness is profitable to all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. But ungodliness exposes every one to temporal and eternal ruin. What then shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Hear divine wisdom describe the folly, the guilt and despair of the ungodly in their dying moments: "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded: but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you; then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me."

6. If good men have good reasons to hope and wait for death, then they are prepared to bury themselves, or their christian friends. They are prepared to go first or to follow after. If their lives are preserved, they are prepared to wait their appointed time, and then go to their pious friends in the world of glory. And the thought of their soon meeting them in that blessed state, serves to reconcile them to their short separation.

May not the aged and lately bereaved widow derive consolation from the hope and expectation of soon following her dear departed husband? It certainly becomes her to wait patiently and submissively for her own appointed time, which cannot be far distant. The death of good men is certainly a source of sorrow, whether they are called away in an earlier or later period of life; and their departure out of the world is a loss to the world. The death of Capt. DEAN, though in a very advanced age, is a loss to others as well as to his friends. He early made a public profession of religion, and externally performed the various duties of it in his family, and in the house of God, where he uniformly appeared an attentive, serious and intelligent hearer of the gospel, which we have reason to think had a happy influence to form him for usefulness in his day and generation. He filled every relation and station of life with dignity, and secured the esteem and respect of every society in which he resided, and of every circle in which he moved. He was a warm, staunch and bold friend to his country in the most trying times. He professed and maintained sound principles in religion, morality and government. He was, in a word, a very useful and respectable citizen, whose decease, even in the latest stage of life, his friends and acquaintance have reason to lament; for he sustained the infirmities of age and the reverses of fortune with uncommon vigor, activity, fortitude and magnanimity. But they ought not to mourn as those who have no hope. It must be a consolation to all his pious friends, who are waiting and hoping for their appointed time to follow him where they hope he has found eternal rest. Nor can it be long before all his brothers and sisters, relatives and friends must follow him into eternity. His death loudly admonishes them to stand in the happy posture of waiting for the coming of their Lord. And what it says to one, it says to all: "Be ye also ready."