is now going joyfully to reap in eternity. As for what is to come, he will have cause to pray to God partly for others, and partly for himself.

It will behove him to pray for those whom he has inconsiderately offended; that God will be pleased to efface from their minds the impression of such offence. He should pray for those who have hated and persecuted him without a cause; that God will be pleased to convert them, and forgive their trespasses. He ought to pray for those who in his lifetime have loved him, and shewed him kindness; that God would reward them in time and eternity. He should pray for his family and relations whom he leaves behind in an evil and perverse world, among so many snares and seducements; that God would be pleased to guide, comfort, bless, and support them. Lastly, he should pray for the whole church militant on earth; that its blessed head may take it under his care and protection, and defend, enlarge, and succour it.

But for himself, he is to pray according to the substance of our Saviour's prayer, contained in the Psalm before us; according to which a dying Christian is to regulate his prayer.

1. Does our Saviour in this prayer say, 'Let me never be ashamed;' so should a Christian borrow these words from him, and likewise pray to God, that the confidence which he has placed in him may not be confounded.

2. Does Jesus Christ further pray, 'Deliver me in thy righteousness;' so may a dying Christian even appeal to the Divine justice, which is now appeased and satisfied by the blood of the Mediator.

3. Does our dying Saviour say, 'Bow down thine ear speedily;' so a dying Christian, especially in great agonies of mind or violent pains, may, with resignation, pray for the shortening of his sufferings, and for speedy succour from God.

4. Does our dying Saviour say, 'Be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me ;' so a dying disciple of Christ, seeing his death-bed surrounded by so many spiritual enemies, makes this high rock his refuge and house of defence, and prays to be admitted into it.

5. Does Christ pray, saying, 'For thy names' sake lead me and guide me;' so may a dying Christian call upon God, and pray that he will lead him through the gloomy valley of the shadow of death, and bring him into the light of a blessed eternity.

6. Lastly, has the dying Mediator said, 'Pull me out of the net, that they have laid privily for me, for thou art my strength;' so may a dying Christian request the like favour of his heavenly Father. For, as satan, like an eager hunter, lies in wait for the soul of a dying person, watches every circumstance, and spreads before his sight the net of his former sins, the remembrance of which he revives, and increases the number by many false accusations; he may likewise pray, that the mighty hand of God would draw him out of his net.

But here it may be asked, May not a dying Christain supplicate God for the abatement of his bodily pains, for the recovery of his health, and the lengthening of his life; that he may be a farther benefit to his family, and further endeavour to finish the work of his sanctification? To this I answer, He may indeed make such requests to his Creator, but with an entire resignation to his sacred will; and in this he has a pattern set him by his Saviour, who in his prayer on the Mount of Olives, said, 'Not my will, but thine be done.'

Secondly, Such a preparation for death requires the exercise of faith. Our blessed Saviour, in the next place, thus begins his last prayer: 'In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust.' This filial confidence and faith in God he retained to the last moment of his life. Thus must a dying Christain first lay hold of the

shield of faith, that he may thereby quench the fiery darts of the wicked. This shield must be held up against all the charges and accusations of satan, with which he, at that time, endeavours to testify the con science.

A believer may therefore express himself in this confidential manner : "The devil has no power over me; it is against Thee only that I have sinned, O thou that pardonest iniquity! What mean these proud claims of satan? It is not he that can prescribe laws to me; he has no share in those whom thou, O Lord, dost love: Depart from me thou accursed spirit, I know that I am the Lord's. O blessed Jesus, I am thy property; witness thy blood, that thou hast redeemed me from sin! What then can these assaults of satan mean? Why does he threaten me with the terrors of the Divine wrath at the tribunal of God? Come therefore, and assert the honour of thy meri. torious passion: And since thou hast so dearly purchased me, I may rest assured that thou wilt not deliver me into the hands of an accursed enemy. No, my dearest Saviour; I know that I am thine unalienable portion; and therefore I smile at all distress and violence. Though the thunders of the law, of hell, and of death, roar against me, and their feeble lightnings flash about me, I know no fear. In life I am thine, and shall continue under thy protection after death." This is the language of faith against the accusation of satan at the hour of death.

This shield of faith must likewise be opposed to the terrors of death, that the believer may be able thus boldly to express himself: "To others, death may seem the king of terrors, but to me he wears a milder aspect; for O thou most precious fountain of life, who forsakest none who come unto thee! in thee I rest soul, body, and spirit. Who would be terrified when he is arrived at the end of his journey, and finds himself safe, after passing through roads beset with robbers and assassins? I therefore leave this

gloomy wilderness with joy, to enter into those eternal mansions which are enlightened by the glory of God, and of which the Lamb is the light, (Rev. xxi. 22.)

Now faith, indeed, embraces every promise revealed in the gospel; but more particularly the promise of the grace of God in Jesus Christ, and of the salvation of those who believe in the name of the Son of God. Therefore it may be of great use,

1. To consider the former mercies, guidances, and deliverances, which we have experienced from God in the course of our lives.

2. To consider the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, by which God has been reconciled, and death disarmed.

3. A devout participation of the holy sacrament, which has often been wonderfully efficacious in strengthening the faith of dying Christians.

Thirdly, To such a preparation for death likewise belongs the exercise of hope, of which our suffering Saviour has likewise left us a pattern, by saying in the text, In thee O Lord do I put my trust!' This hope of a dying Christian is chiefly directed to the blessedness of the future life promised in the gospel; and is grounded on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, by which we are born again to a lively hope of a better life. The more certain this hope is, the more it shews itself, both in an ardent desire to depart and to be with Christ, and in a comfortable joy and alacrity of the mind.

Fourthly and lastly, Such a reparation must be attended with the exercise of an entire offering of one's self up to God. This consists in calmly resigning ourselves to our wise Creator, and referring all circumstances relating to sickness, life or death, to him ; and particularly in recommending our souls into those mighty and faithful hands, into which the Son of God recommended his Spirit. This fourfold exerçise of prayer, faith, hope, and resignation to God, consti

tutes the true and immediate preparation of a pious Christian for death.

Therefore consider, all ye who still make it your sole employment to fulfil the lusts of your flesh; all ye who make earthly things, as wealth, honour, ease, and voluptuousness, your supreme felicity, and act as if you had a continuing city here, and were to live in it forever; consider that you are heaping up matter for a miserable death: And if you proceed in this beaten tract, your last moments, unless the grace of God should interpose to awaken your sleeping consciences, will be attended with terrible disquietude, and inexpressible agonies of mind. Alas, how wretched will be your condition when, lifting up your eyes, you see nothing before you but horror, misery, and torture! If you look back to your former life, there all is sin, guilt, and impiety; if you look forward, behold an eternity of agonizing torments and despair! Above you stands an incensed Judge; under you the abyss of hell is opened; and even within you, you will hear the clamours, and sensibly feel the stings, of conscience, the silent witness and accuser of your most secret sins and evil thoughts. Do not flatter yourselves with a vain hope, or think that all may be set to rights with a few broken sighs; think not that only crying out, God be merciful to me a sinner! is a sufficient atonement for a life of impiety. Alas! repentance is too arduous, too important a work, to be thus huddled over. When the body is struggling with the pains of the distemper, and the conscience is at the same time terrified with the wrath of God, and the horrors of death, What strength can be left for such a conflict? Therefore, while you are in the days of your health, and are not deprived of an ability of sinning; in the name of Jesus Christ renounce the service of sin, and give yourselves to him who has shed his precious blood on the cross, and acquired for you a right to a blessed eternity. Settle your account with heaven in time, that all remaining to be.