ing the denounced penalty, unless his sovereign by an act of free mercy prevent it. How then can we attain any confidence that repentance will ensure forgiveness from God, or exempt us from future punishment?

In this state of uncertainty, which would excite more anxious enquiries, if it were not for the inconsideration and presumption of mankind, the Scriptures address us: yet many of the declarations, which first awaken the attention of the careless, are suited exceedingly to increase the alarm. "The wrath of "God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness "and unrighteousness of men." "It is appointed "for men once to die, and after death the judgment." "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God." "Cursed is every one "that continueth not in all things written in the book "of the law to do them." 66 Depart accursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his an"gels." "These shall go away into everlasting punishment," ""Where their worm dieth not, and "their fire is not quenched."

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"Life and immortality, indeed, are brought to light "by the gospel:" but till that gospel is understood and embraced, the assurance that the soul is immor. tal, that the body shall rise again, and that there will be a future judgment, and a state of eternal retribution, must excite increasing apprehensions, in all who duly attend to the important subject, and compare their lives with the holy law of God.

Viewed, therefore, on every side, death is the king of terrors, to all but the true christian; and not to fear

death, when its consequences are daily weighed, is more properly to be termed madness than courage. Indeed deliberate superiority to the fear of death is far less common than may be supposed. There have been military men of most approved courage, who were free to own that this was not their case: but that, in seasons of the greatest danger, they were so occupied with other thoughts, that they had no leisure to think about dying. Men intoxicated by pride and ambition, or rendered desperate by vexations and furious passions, may hurry into extreme danger, or even on certain death, without reflection: yet the same persons, when attacked by wasting disease, informed of their danger, and left in solitude to reflect on their situation, often feel that dread of death, which before seemed to be extinguished; and cherishing vain hopes, cling to life, just like other men.

And though the consideration, that death is the wages of sin, and the infliction of a sentence denounced against man for disobedience, (and not a matter of course or a debt of nature, as men generally speak,) is seldom duly attended to: yet, when seriously weighed, it is suited still more to shew that death is indeed a dreadful enemy.

If God inexorably inflicts that sentence on the body, which he in just displeasure denounced; will he not prove inexorable in respect of the sentence of everlasting punishment, which hangs over the immortal soul? And shall we not "fear him who is able to "destroy both body and soul in hell?"

And can death, the king of terrors, the dire conqueror and destroyer of our race, be deprived of his

armour, nay, be changed into a friend? Can that stroke, which seems to cause the loss of all things, become our gain? This, this, my brethren, is the peculiar triumph of the gospel. To every true believer death is gain, the richest gain. And what can worldly wisdom, or even philosophy, propose, worthy of being put into competition with this unspeakable benefit?

You will observe, however, my brethren, that I do not say, every true believer can adopt the apostle's language of full assurance, "To me to die is gain." "I have a desire to depart." Alas! few, very few indeed, if any, are so diligent, so zealous, so self-denying, so dead to the world, and so heavenly-minded, as he was; and in proportion, their evidence, that the blessing belongs to them, is less clear, and their assurance cannot on scriptural grounds be so high and unwavering. The degree also in which to die is the christian's gain, is proportioned to that of his growth in grace and fruitfulness; for "one star differeth from "another star in glory." Yet every one, who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, is both an heir of heaven, and made meet for heaven, and death will certainly be his gain; the only difficulty lies in determining whether we have the true faith, which works by love, and is inseparable from repentance, and all those "things "which accompany salvation."

We may consider the christian's life after conversion, in respect of the following particulars:

1. He has troubles and sorrows in common with other men, from which death will finally deliver him, and so be his gain. "In thy life-time thou hast had VOL. III.

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"thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, "but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.” Jesus did not come into the world, and die on the cross, to save us from temporal suffering, but from sin, and from the wrath to come. His disciples, therefore, are often left to feel the suffering of poverty, sickness, and pain; the sorrows of domestick losses, and of publick calamities. "Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward:" no condition in life is exempt; every one isready to complain of his peculiar trials; and, as this is the case, we need only add, that the christian has at least his full share of the troubles which are common to man; but at death God delivers him from them all: while to the unbelieving these are but "the beginning of sorrows," and of eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Indeed to be delivered from the miseries of this ' evil world,' if known to be separable from the miseries of another world, is generally allowed to be gain, even independently of that eternal felicity reserved for the righteous. So that, in very many instances, life is desired, not so much for its enjoyments, as from a secret dread of the consequences of death. I know where I am now, but I know, not where I shall be when I die, was the expressive answer of an aged sufferer, to the enquirer, Why he was anxiously desirous of life? though he owned its pains were far greater than its enjoyments. What an affecting condition is such a man reduced to! what a relief would the faith and hope of the christian bring to his mind!

Sometimes, however, the pressure of suffering, on a stout rebellious spirit is so heavy, that in desperate unbelief, as regardless of consequences, the poor

wretch is urged on by the first murderer, the devil, madly to rush on death for deliverance. But the believer assaulted, as Job was under his complicated sufferings, by the same temptation, answers "All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change "come." He has indeed his sorrows, and often exceedingly heavy trials; but he has also comforts and supports peculiar to himself, which enable him to bear up under them all.

2. But the christian has sufferings to which others are strangers, and from which death will deliver him, and thus prove his great gain. "In the world ye "shall have tribulation." The world will hate or scorn the devoted servants of Jesus Christ; yet they have the same feelings as other men, and the same natural dislike to be despised, calumniated, insulted, and persecuted. The circumstance, that a christian's "foes are those of his own house," often infuses additional bitterness into his cup of sorrow. He cannot but lament to see his dear. est relatives, whose welfare lies near his heart, evidently treading the broad road to destruction. When he has bestowed all the affectionate pains he can for their best interest, they frequently send him away "to weep in secret places for their pride.' He looks around, and sometimes "rivers of water run down his eyes, because men keep not the divine law," and neglect the salvation of the Gospel. He has "a heart of flesh," and cannot but mourn with those that mourn; as the Saviour wept at the grave of Lazarus, as well as over the devoted inhabitants of Jerusalem. The calamities of fami. lies and of nations; the divided and corrupted state of