and which is liable to be kindled at all times, and in all to inflame others, and become Certainly these things are apt

places; yea, they are apt the occasions of sinning.

to imbitter this life to the saints.

Secondly, Consider the misery and trouble that attend it. Rest is desirable, but it is not to be found on this side of the grave. Worldly troubles attend all men in this life. This world is a sea of trouble, where one wave rolls upon another. They who fancy themselves beyond the reach of trouble, are mistaken; no state, no stage of life, is exempted from it. The crowned head is surrounded with thorny cares.-Honour many times paves the way to

deep disgrace: Riches (for the most part) are kept to the hurt of the owners. The fairest rose wants not prickles; and the heaviest cross is sometimes found wrapt up in the greatest earthly comfort. Spiritual troubles attend the saints in this life. They are like travellers travelling in a cloudy night, in which the moon sometimes breaks out from under one cloud, but quickly hides her head again under another; no wonder they long to be at their journey's end. The sudden alterations the best frame of spirit is liable to, the perplexing doubts, confounding fears, short-lived joys, and long running sorrows, which have a certain affinity, with the present life, must needs create in the saints a desire to be with Christ, which is best of all.

Lastly, Consider the great imperfections attending this life. While the soul is lodged in this cottage of clay, the necessities of the body are many; it is always craving. The mud walls must be repaired and patched up daily till the clay cottage fall down for good and all. Eating, drinking, sleeping, and the like, are, in themselves, but mean employments for a rational creature; and will be reputed such by the heaven-born soul. They are badges of imperfection, and, as such, unpleasant to the mind, aspiring unto that life and immortality, which is brought to light through the gospel; and would be very grievous, if this state of things were of long continuance. Doth not the gracious soul often find itself yoked with the body, as with a companion in travel, unable to keep pace with it? When the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. When the soul would mount upward, the body is as a clog up

on it, and as a stone tied to the foot of a bird attempting to fly. The truth is, O believer! thy soul in this body is, at best but like a diamond in a ring, where much of it is obscured; it is far sunk in the vile clay, till relieved by death.

I conclude this subject with a few directions how to prepare for death, so as we may die comfortably. I speak not here of habitual preparation for death, which a true Christian, in virtue of his gracious state, never wants, from the time he is born again and united to Christ; but of actual preparation or readiness, in respect of his circumstantiate case, frame, and disposition of mind and spirit; the want of which makes even a saint very unfit to die.

First, Let it be your constant care to keep a clean conscience void of offence toward God, and toward man, Acts xxiv. 17. Beware of standing controversy betwixt God and you, on the account of some iniquity regarded in the heart. When an honest man is about to leave his country, and not to return, he settles accounts with those he had dealings with, and lays down methods for paying his debts timeously; lest he be reckoned a bankrupt, and be attacked by an officer, when he is going off. Guilt lying on the conscience is a fountain of fears; and will readily sting severely, when death stares the criminal in the face. Hence it is, that many, even of God's children when a-dying, are made to wish passionately, and desire eagerly, that they may live to do, what they ought to have done before that time. Wherefore, walk closely with God, be diligent, strict, and exact in your course; beware of a loose, careless, and irregular conversation; as ye would not lay up for yourselves anguish and bitterness of spirit, in a dying hour. And because, through the infirmity cleaving to us, in our present state of imperfection, in many things we offend all, renew your repentance daily, and be ever washing in the Redeemer's blood. As long as ye are in the world, ye will need to wash your feet, John xiii. 10. that is, to make application to the blood of Christ, anew, for purging your consciences from the guilt of daily miscarriages. Let death find you at the fountain and if so, it will find you ready to answer its call.

Secondly, Be always watchful, waiting for your change;

like unto men that wait for their Lord, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately, Luke xxi. 36. Beware of slumbering and sleeping, while the bridegroom tarries. To be awakened out of spiritual slumber, by a surprising call to pass into another world, is a very frightful thing: But he who is daily waiting for the coming of his Lord, shall comfortably receive the grim messenger, while he beholds him ushering in Him, of whom he may confidently say, This is my God, I have waited for him. The way to die comfortably is to die daily. Be often essaying as it were, to die. Bring yourselves familiarly acquainted with death, by making many visits to the grave, in serious meditations upon it. This was Job's practice, Chap. xvii. 13, 14. "I have made my bed in the darkness." Go thou, and do likewise; and when death comes, thou shalt have nothing ado but to lie down. "I have said to corruption, thou art my father; to the worm, thou art my mother and my sister." Do thou, say so too; and thou wilt be the fitter to go home to their house. Be frequently reflecting upon your conduct, and considering what course of life you wish to be found in, when death arrests you; and act accordingly. When you do the duties of your station in life, or are employed in acts of worship, think with yourselves, that, it may be, this is the last opportunity; and, therefore, act as if you was never to do more of that kind. When you lie down at night, compose your spirits as if you was not to awake, till the heavens be no more. And when you awake in the morning, consider that new day as your last; and live accordingly. Surely that night cometh, of which you will never see the morning, or that morning, of which you will never see the night. But which of your mornings or nights will be such, you know

not.

Thirdly, Employ yourselves much in weaning your hearts from the world. The man who is making ready to go abroad, busies himself in taking leave of his friends. Let the mantle of earthly enjoyments hang loose about you, that it may be easily dropped, when death comes to carry you away into another. Moderate your affections towards your lawful comforts of life; and let not your hearts be too much taken with them. The traveller acts

unwisely, who suffers himself to be so allured with the conveniences of the inn where he lodgeth, as to make his necessary departure from it grievous. Feed with fear, and walk through the world as pilgrims and strangers. Like as, when the corn is forsaking the ground, it is ready for the sickle; when the fruit is ripe, it fails off the tree easily; so, when a Christian's heart is truly weaned from the world, he is prepared for death, and it will be the more easy to him. A heart disengaged from the world is an heavenly one; and then are we ready for heaven, when our heart is there before us, Matth. vi. 21.

Fourthly, Be diligent in gathering and laying up evidences of your title to heaven, for your support and comfort at the hour of death. The neglect hereof mars the joy and consolation, which some Christians might otherwise have at their death. Wherefore, examine yourseives frequently, as to your spiritual state; that evidences, which lie hid and unobserved, may be brought to light and taken notice of. And if you would manage this work successfully, make solemn work of it. Set apart some time for it. And after earnest prayer to God, through Jesus Christ, for the enlightening influences of the Holy Spirit, whereby ye may be enabled to understand his own word, to discern his own work in your souls; sist yourselves before, the tribunal of your consciences, that ye may judge yourselves in this weighty matter.

In the first place, Let the marks of a regenerate state be fixed, from the Lord's word; and have recourse to some particular text for that purpose, such as Prov. viii. 17. "I love them that love me." Compare Luke xiv. 26. "If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Psal. cxix. 6. "Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments." Psal. xviii. 23. "I was also upright before him; and I kept myself from mine iniquity." Compare Rom. vii. 22, 23. "For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind," &c. 1 John iii. 3. "And every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure." Matth. v. 3. "Blessed

are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Phil. iii. 3. "For we are the circumcision which worship (or serve) God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." The sum of the evidence arising from these texts lies here. A real Christian is one who loves God for himself, as well as for his benefits, and that with a supreme love, above all persons and things: He has an awful and impartial regard to God's commands; he opposeth and wrestleth against that sin, which of all others most easily besets him; he approveth and loveth the holy law, even in that very point, wherein it strikes against his most beloved lust; his hope of heaven engageth him in the study of universal holiness; in the which he aims at perfection, though he cannot reach it in this life; he serves the Lord, not only in acts of worship, but in the whole of his conversation; and as to both, is spiritual in the principle, motives, aims, and ends of his service; yet he sees nothing in himself to trust to before the Lord: Christ and his fulness is the stay of his soul; and his confidence is cut off from all that is not Christ, or in Christ, in point of justification, or acceptance with God, and in point of sanctification too. Every one in whom these characters are found has a title to heaven, according to the word It is convenient and profitable to mark such texts for this special use, as they occur, while you read the scriptures, or hear sermons. The marks of a regenerate state thus fixed: in the next place, Impartially search and try your own hearts thereby, as in the sight of God, with dependence on him for spiritual discerning, that ye may know whether they be in you or not. And when ye find them, form the conclusion deliberately and distinctly; namely, that therefore you are regenerate, and have a title to heaven. Thus you may gather evidences. But be sure to have recourse to God in Christ by earnest prayer, for the testimony of the Spirit, whose office is to bear witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God, Rom. viii. 16. Moreover, carefully observe the course and method of Providence towards you; and likewise how your soul is affected under the same, in the various steps thereof; compare both with scripture doctrines, promises, threatenings, and examples, so shall ye perceive, if the

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