Is not the death of the righteous to be chosen before the miserable end of an abandoned sinner? I believe all of us will readily subscribe to the wish of Balaam: Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! But, if ever we expect this, we must be careful to live as becometh the gospel of Christ. Like Job, we must hold fast our righteousness, retain our integrity, aud give our hearts no room to reproach us. I most heartily wish that we would all consider how some men now do, and we ourselves shall hereafter tremble at the thoughts of such folly; when at the hour of death we shall think on the equal distribution of things at the day of judgment. For this is not a fictitious, but a real event, towards which all wise men look forward; lest, like the rich fool in the gospel, (who laid up provision for many years) they should be surprised by these words: Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee. It is a most melancholy reflection to think of the inconsideration of some men; who, thought they know that they must certainly die, and afterwards appear at the great tribunal, yet never consider what will become of them there, when they hear that dreadful sentence pronounced by the Judge of all the earth: Depart from me, for I know you not, ye workers of iniquity. What horror and amazement must then seize upon the condemned sinner, when he finds himself carried away to a gloomy prison of exquisite torture, there to remain to all eternity. Alas! he will then (when it is too late) be convinced of his folly and madness, and call to the mountains and rocks to fall on him, and hide him from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb : For when the great day of his wrath is come, who, or where is that impertinent sinner that shall be able to stand in his presence? Be persuaded then, my brethren, to consider these things in time, and reflect seriously to which of these two fates, happiness or misery, your present course of life tends to bring you. Such a time will certainly come, and nothing will be of service to you then but the answer of a good conscience; that you have manfully resisted the strongest temptations, been patient under afflictions and disappointments, and resolutely stemmed the tide of your evil inclinations; that you have retained your integrity as long as you lived, and gave your hearts and consciences no room to reproach you. Then you will triumph for ever with the glorious company of the Apostles, the goodly fellowship of the Prophets, and the noble army of Martyrs, and all the saints and servants of God. And Oh! what heart can conceive, what tongue can express the inconceivable joy and happiness which the righteous man shall possess in the presence and enjoyment of that God, in whom is all fullness of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Let me, therefore, my brethren, to conclude, exhort you by all means to keep in mind the unspeakable reward of a virtuous and good life. Let heaven and happiness, which deserve all your care, engross it principally before every other thing; there let us place our treasure, and there will be our hearts. And let every man of us take up the resolution of Job, and with him say, 'Till I die, I will not remove my integrity from me, my righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. That we may all think of these things, and steadily adhere to the most admirable precepts of the gospel, all the days of our short stay upon earth, let us humbly beseech the Almighty to bestow upon us such a portion of his holy Spirit as may support us in all dangers and difficulties, that we may thereby be enabled to hold fast our integrity to the end; which (through the merits of our blessed Saviour) will not fail to bring us to the happy regions of the blessed. Now to God the Father, &c. |