may delight in saying, and in inscribing over us, as theirs did, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."

Sun-set is a glorious scene. We cannot behold without emotion the luminary of day on the verge of the horizon, going down broad and beautiful amidst his gorgeous scenery of golden clouds. Earth and sky seem to meet and to kiss each other, bright with surpassing splendours. There is a grandeur too, in the death of the Christian : he finishes his course with joy that blessed Spirit who tended him through life, sheds his selectest influences on the closing scene: his countenance seems irradiated with beams of celestial brightness: and while an abundant entrance is about to be administered to him into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is given him to rejoice in hope of that fulness of blessedness on which he is about to enter, his spirit is gladdened by anticipations of approaching glory,

"And all his prospects brightening to the last,

His heaven commences ere the world be past."

Come then, my friend, and let us visit the chamber of the dying Christian. Come and see how a Christian can die. View the scene for yourself, and let it speak to your heart. How still,-how solemn,-how awful is this place. Mark the Christian's carriage. See his resignation and tranquility! How full of piety his every word! What longings and pantings after the full enjoyment of Christ! What earnestness, what prayerfulness for the salvation of those whom he leaves behind! See how God strengthens him on his bed of languishing, and makes his grace sufficient for him, amid the agonies and conflicts of dissolving nature. See how the prayers of the widow and the fatherless, and the blessing of those who were ready to perish, are made to come upon him. See here a fulfilling of the saying, 'Death shall be swallowed up in victory.' And is this death,-death, that appaling monster,-that king of terrors, at thought of whose even distant approach, our souls have shuddered and shrunk back? Surely this is none other than the house of God, this is the gate of heaven! To the Christian the nature of death is altogether changed. "Jesus Christ hath abolished death," and "he that keepeth his saying shall never see death." Death is not the same

thing, therefore, to the Christian as it is to the sinner. Properly speaking, it is not death: it is a falling asleep in Jesus, it is a resting from his labours,—it is going home to his Father's house; it is not death, but life;--a being born into the world of everlasting life and joy.

"The chamber where the good man meets his fate,

Is privileged beyond the common walk

Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of Heaven-
Fly ye profane, or else draw near with awe.
You see the man, you see his hold on heaven.
Heaven waits not the last moment; owns her friends
On this side death, and points them out to men ;—
A lecture silent but of sovereign power.-
Life take thy course, but O for such an end."

What I aim at speak wickedly In religious dis

I wish not to overcolour the picture. setting down is fact, not fancy. Shall we for God, and talk deceitfully for him?" quisitions let all exaggeration, all reservation of fact, all artifice, all pious frauds be for ever abhorred and discarded. Truth, truth only, is the legitimate basis of reasoning, of confidence, of happiness. And truth now requires us to advert to the varieties which are witnessed in the manner of the death of those who exhibit evidence of being Christians.

In reference to consequences, all Christians certainly die safely, but all Christians do not die in a manner equally desirable. Cut off by casuality, by the bloody hand of violence, or by the immediate visitation of providence, some are summoned suddenly into eternity. Sudden death, however, cannot separate the soul from Christ; it speeds its flight to him: sudden death, sudden glory.When the approach of death is gradual, it is possible that a Christian may labour to the last under the bondage of fear. Though sure to emerge into cloudless and unclosing day, his sun may not go down in summer glory, but in clouds and mists. Such a distressing dispensation is not arbitrary on the part of providence, but a consequence and a sanctifying corrective of moral delinquency. Renewed by this means to repentance, he is chastened of the Lord, that he may not be condemned with the world. There is says John, "a sin unto death," that is the death of the body; and Paul tells the Corinthians, "for this cause," namely, the profanation of the Lord's Supper,

many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep ;" the chastisements of weakness, sickness, and death, were doubtless for the "destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."-The structure of the mind is also to be taken into account: some are constitutionally timorous, and in some instances, as in the case of Cowper, the terror of death is to be regarded not as a moral, but as a mental disease, and to be attributed to a species of insanity, and not to the absence of the power of divine truth, or to a certain class of religious opinions, as the enemies of truth and piety have often pretended.-Allowance must be made, too, for the kind and the intensity of bodily disease. Some experience such torture from corporeal pain, that resignation and patience is the utmost that they can express: some have their faculties impaired by the imbecility of old age: and others pass away in a lethargic sleep, like the passenger who retires to his birth at the place of embarkation, and awaking in the morning, finds himself in the destined port, unconscious of the tossings of the midnight ocean.

Even when Christians, in the closing scene, exhibit evidence by which we are enabled to pronounce them honoured and happy in their death, we find a variety of degrees in the happiness and distinction to which they attain: some die in peace; others in triumph. Some die in humble hope; others in full assurance of hope. Some meet their latter end in patient waiting for salvation; others are able to raise the exulting shout of victory. Some resign their spirits in calm tranquility; others feel inexpressible joy, and anticipate the triumphs and transports of the skies.

Without being depressed by distressing fears on the one hand, or elevated by transporting joys on the other, peace in the hour of their departure, is the attainment of the generality of Christians. "Mark the upright man, and behold the perfect, for the end of that man is peace.” Christ has promised rest, not rapture, to his followers; and those who are familiar with dying scenes, often express themselves struck with the exact fulfilment of the promise, and behold the Christian "depart in peace."

The attainment of peace in death was remarkably exemplified by the pious Mrs. Graham, of New-York, whose memoirs is a favourite book with religious readers. Fre. quently did she repeat in broken accents the word, 'Peace,'

'Peace,' after the power of utterance had nearly failed; and it is remarkable that it had been a favourite practice with her through life, often to repeat that promise of the Saviour, 'My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.'

Of tormenting feargiving way at last to the power of faith, we have an eminent example in the death of the celebrated Doctor Johnson. Associating too much with men of no religion, studying other books too much to the neglect of the Bible, and not being sufficiently acquainted with the peculiar truths of the Christian system, his great mind was kept barren of the consolations of the Gospel, and he was, throughout life, grievously distressed with the fear of death. "The approach of death," said he to a friend, “is very dreadful." To another friend he owned, that, "he never had a moment in which death was not terrible to him." On another occasion he declared, "I am afraid I shall be one of those who shall be sent to hell, and punished everlastingly." When Johnson, however, approached dissolution, he was full of resignation, strong in faith, joyful in hope of his own salvation, and earnest in pressing the concern of salvation on his friends. How was this wonderful change effected? Doctor Brocklesby, his physician, who, says Boswell, will not be suspected of enthusiasm, obliged me with the following account:- For sometime before his death, all his fears were calmed and absorbed by the prevalence of his faith and his trust in the merits and propitiation of Jesus Christ.", "He talked often to me," adds Dr. Brocklesby, "about the necessity of faith in the sacrifice of Jesus, as necessary beyond all good works whatever, for the salvation of mankind." It would appear from this statement, that the great mind of Johnson felt that a dying creature about to appear before God, must lay no stress whatever on the merit of works, but rest by faith for justification solely on the propitiation of Christ, as made unto us righteousness. It would appear, however, from the very indistinct language used by the narrator, "the necessity of faith beyond all good works for salvation," that he had but a clouded view of the method of the sinner's justification by faith in Christ, without the deeds of the law, and of the place which good works occupy in salvation. Johnson's biographers seem not to have understood the truth; the accounts which they give of the conversations of a man who seems to have exercised

himself so much on his death-bed for the salvation of himself and his friends, are brief and scanty; and that a minute narrative has not been furnished by one qualified to do justice to the subject, is an irreparable loss to the Christian world.-The following prayer of this great man, when about to commemorate the death of Christ, in view of the immediate approach of his own, cannot be read without emotions by any one who has experimentally learned to build his trust on the same foundation:-" Almighty and most merciful Father, I am about to commemorate, for the last time, the death of thy Son Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer. Grant, O Lord, that my whole hope and confidence may be in his merits and thy mercy. Enforce and accept my imperfect repentance, and make the death of thy Son Jesus Christ effectual to my redemption. Have mercy on me, and pardon the multitude of my offences. Support me by thy Holy Spirit, in the days of weakness, and at the hour of death."

C

THE CHURCH'S DUTY, AS A WITNESS FOR CHRIST.

THE works of God in creation and providence, are confessedly intended to be his own witnesses, to show forth his transcendent excellency and glorious majesty, and to proclaim to rational creatures, that "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." His apostolic witnesses declare this in Acts xiv. 17, and in Rom. i. 20; and it is a prominent portion of the testimony of all his inspired witnesses. Truly he hath made wonderful displays of his perfections in every thing the eye of man can see, or his understanding investigate; and from the multiplicity and conclusiveness of evidence of his being and attributes, it must be acknowledged, that he who "hath said in his heart that there is no God," is "a fool."

There are, however, *exercises of attributes, not dis

* The writer of this Article is rather inclined to consider mercy, and justice, and truth as peculiar exercises or modifications of those attributes discoverable in creation and providence, than as being distinct attributes themselves. Mercy may be considered an exercise of goodness under peculiar circumstances. Justice may be referred to wisdom, and truth to the invariable consistency and harmony of all the divine perfections.