to knock at the door, but makes as great dispatch with some in a few hours, as with others in many years. Value not yourselves on your beauty, which shall consume in the grave, Psal. xlix. 14. Remember the change death makes on the fairest face, Job xiv. 20. "Thou changest his countenance, and sendeth him away." Death makes the greatest beauty so loathsome, that it must be buried out of sight. Could a looking-glass be used in the house appointed for all living, it would be a terror to those, who now look oftener into their glasses than into their Bibles. And what though the body be gorgeously arrayed: The finest clothes are but badges of our sin and shame; and, in a little time, will be exchanged for a winding-sheet, when the body will become a feast to the worms.

Sdly, It may be a mighty check upon sensuality and fleshly lusts, 1 Pet. ii. 11. "I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." It is hard to cause wet wood take fire; and when the fire doth take hold of it, it is soon extinguished. Sensuality makes men unfit for divine communications, and is an effectual means to quench the Spirit. Intemperance in eating and drinking carries on the ruin of soul and body at once; and hastens death, while it makes the man most unfit for it. Therefore take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and so that day come upon you unawares, Luke xxi. 34. But, O how often is the soul struck through with a dart, in gratifying the senses! At these doors destruction enters in. Therefore, Job made a covenant with his eyes, Chap. xxxi. 1. "The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit; he that is abhorred of the Lord, shall fall therein," Prov. xxii 14. "Let him that standeth take heed, lest he fall." Beware of lasciviousness; study modesty in your apparel, words and actions. The ravens of the valley of death will, at length, pick out the wanton eye: The obscene, filthy tongue will, at length, be quiet, in the land of silence! And grim death, embracing the body in its cold arms, will effectually allay the heat of all fleshly lusts.

Lastly, In a word, it may check our earthly mindedness; and at once knock down the lust of the flesh, the lust of

the eyes, and the pride of life. Ah! if we must die; why are we thus? Why so fond of temporal things; so anxious to get them, so eager in the embraces of them, so mightily touched with the loss of them? Let, me, upon a view of the house appointed for all living, bespeak the worldling in the words of Solomon, Prov. xxiii. 5. “Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings, they flee away as an eagle towards heaven." Riches, and all worldly things, are but a fair nothing; they are that which is not. They are not what they seem to be; they are all but gilded vanities, that deceive the eye. Comparatively, they are not; there is infinitely more of nothingness and not being, than of being and reality in the best of them. What is the world, and all that is in it, but a fashion, or fair show, such as men make on a stage, a passing show? I Cor. vii. 31. Royal pomp is but a gaudy show, or appearance, in God's account, Acts xxi. 25. The best name they get is, good things; but, observe it, they are only the wicked man's good things, Luke xvi. 25.-Thou in thy life-timė receivedst thy good things, says Abraham, in the parable, to the rich man in hell. And well may the men of the world call these things their goods; for there is no other good in them, about them, nor attending them. Now, wilt thou set thine eyes upon empty shows and fancies? Wilt thou cause thine eyes to fly on them, as the word is? Shall mens hearts fly out at their eyes upon them, as a ravenous bird on its prey? If they do, let them know, that, at length, these shall fly as fast away from them, as ever their eyes flew upon them: Like a flock of fair feathered birds, that settle on a fool's ground; the which, when he runs to catch them as his own, do immediately take wing, fly away, and, sitting down on his neighbour's ground, elude his expectation, Luke xii. 20.

"Thou

fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall these things be?" Though you do not make wings to them, as many do, they make themselves wings, and fly away; not as a tame house bird, which may be catched again; as an hawk, that will show where she is by her bells, and be called again with the lure; but as an eagle, which quickly flies out of sight, and cannot be recalled. Forbear thou to behold these things, O mortal!

there is no reason thou shouldst set thine eyes upon them. This world is a great inn, in the road to eternity, to which thou art travelling. Thou art attended by these things, as servants belonging to the inn, where thou lodgest; they wait upon thee, while thou art there, and when thou goest away, they will convey thee to the door. But they are not thine, they will not go away with thee; but return to wait on other strangers, as they did on thee.

Fifthly, It may serve as a Christian resolution, to cleave to Christ, adhere to his truths, and continue in his ways; whatever he may suffer for so doing. It would much allay the fear of man, that bringeth a snare: "Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die?" Isa. li. 12. Look on persecutors as pieces of brittle clay, that shall be dashed to pieces; for then shall ye despise them as foes that are mortal; whose terrors to others, in the land of the living, shall quickly die with themselves. The serious consideration of the shortness of our time, and the certainty of death, will teach us, that all the advantage we can make by our apostacy, in time of trial, is not worth the while; it is not worth the going out of the way to get it; and what we refuse to forego, for Christ's sake, may quickly be taken from us by death. But, we can never lose it so honourably, as for the cause of Christ and his gospel; for, what glory is it that ye give up what ye have in the world, when God takes it away from you by death, whether you will or not? This consideration may teach us to undervalue life itself, and chuse to forego it, rather than to sin. The worst that men can do is to take away that life, which we cannot long keep, though all the world should conspire to help us to retain the spirit. And if we refuse to offer it up to God, when he calls for it, in defence of his honour, he can take it from us another way; as it fared with him, who could not burn for Christ, but was afterwards burned by an accidental fire in his house.

Lastly, It may serve for a Spur, to incite us to prepare for Death. Consider, (1.) Your eternal state will be according to the state in which you die; death will open the doors of heaven or hell to you. As the tree falls, so it shall lie through eternity. If the infant be dead-born, the whole world will not raise it to life again; and if one

die out of Christ, in an unregenerate state, there is no more hope of him for ever. (2.) Seriously consider, what it is to go into another world; a world of spirits, wherewith we are very ill acquainted. How frightful is converse with spirits to poor mortals in this life! And, how dreadful is the case, when men are hurried away into another world, not knowing but devils may be their companions for ever! Let us then give all diligence, to make and advance our acquaintance with the Lord of that world. (3.) It is but a short time ye have to prepare for death; therefore, now or never; seeing the time assigned for preparation will soon be over, Eccles. ix. 10. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." How can we be idle, having so great a work to do, and so little time to do it in? But, if the time be short, the work of preparation for death, though hard work, will not last long. The shadows of the evening make the labourer work cheerfully; knowing the time to be at hand, when he shall be called in from his labour. (4.) Much of our time is over already; and the youngest of us all cannot assure himself that there is as much of his time to come as is past. Our life in the world is but a short preface to long eternity; and much of the tale is told. Oh! shall we not double our diligence when so much of our time is spent, and so little of our great work is done? (5.) The present time is flying away; and we cannot bring back time past, it hath taken an eternal farewel of us; there is no kindling the fire again that is burnt to ashes. The time to come is not ours; and we have no assurance of a share in it when it comes. We have nothing we can call ours, but the present moment; and that is flying away: How soon our time may be at an end, we know not. Die we must, but who can tell us when? If death kept one set time for all, we were in no hazard of a surprise; but daily observation shews us, there is no such thing. Now, the flying shadow of our life allows no time for loitering. The rivers run speedily into the sea, from whence they came; but not speedily as man to the dust, from whence he came. The stream of time is the swiftest current, and quickly runs out to eternity. Lastly, If once death carry

us off, there is no coming back again to mend our matters, Job xiv. 14. "If a man die, shall he live again?" Dying is a thing we cannot get a trial of; it is what we can do only once, Heb. ix. 27. It is appointed unto men ONCE to die. And that which can be but once done, and yet is of so much importance, that our all depends on having it done right, we have need to use the utmost diligence, that we may do it well. Therefore, prepare for death, and do it timeously.

If ye who are unregenerate ask me, What ye shall do, to prepare for death, that ye may die safely? I answer, I have told you already, what must be done. And that is, your nature and state must be changed; ye must be born again; ye must be united to Jesus Christ by faith. And till this is done, ye are not capable of other directions, which belong to one's dying comfortably, whereof we may discourse afterwards in due place.