concerns to his own wise and merciful disposal, who will always do what is right, and who hath promised that all shall eventually concur for their good. They are made wise, and become truly exalted, by being made humble and so truly sublime is the grace of humility, that God himself is infinitely more humble than the best of his creatures either are or possibly can be; for, he looks down with pity and attention upon persons and circumstances, that the most gracious of us feel a secret disparagement, not merely to associate with or regard, but even to think of with complacency.

§ 75. Considerations like these are of immense importance, and reach far beyond the puny concerns of this turbulent and anxious world, and the narrow bounds of time. Death is fast approaching towards myself and my reader: and, though it be trite, yet it cannot be too often reflected upon as

true,

true, that it is a solemn and a fearful thing to die. The stupidity of wickedness alone can trifle with that reflection. The dread of death is felt even by the beasts, and has pervaded the whole creation, since the Almighty righteously smate the earth with this natural curse, on account of sin. We continually see the sick and the dying around us, languishing fast away by disease, suffering the tortures of excruciating pain, enduring innumerable species of misery, anticipating often, with the most thrilling horrors, the rapid approach of the king of terrors, the gloomy dissolution of the grave, and (what is worse than these) feeling the keen and dismal touches of an opening eternity; things, all overwhelming, and all unavoidable! →→→ The eye may then look round, in the wildness of fear, upon attending friends, for assistance or support; but, alas! these have none to give. They need

the

the balm of hope, perhaps, for themselves. The trembling nerves, in the mean time, relax apace; the heart throbs with unabating pangs; a dark and universal horror agonizes the frame. Meanwhile, the body sinks on, from moment to moment, towards the dust, with melancholy groans; and the soul, as long as it can exhibit perceptions, discovers a solicitude, an anxiety, an agony of distress, which cannot be uttered. O how awful this condition of unawakened man; at once so uncertain, and yet so sure! - What, then, (may we earnestly ask,) what can animate the spirit of any man, or give it courage and consolation in the midst of these accumulated distresses; what can enable it to look, with courage unappalled, upon that tremendous, eternal, abyss, now widely opening to the eye, into which, in a moment, it must for ever plunge? The moment is come, and the plunge

is inevitable! shall it find the sure deliverance, which it needs, from the wild, dark, and horrible, precipitation into ruin! Let us turn our view to the deathbed of the Christian. Let us consider his end, and mark his hope and his peace. And O what joy, in that trying hour, does the Spirit of Faith frequently yield to the child of God! With what calm confidence is he privileged to look to THE EVERLASTING ARMS, which have promised to support the soul in its passage to the world unknown! What a clear perception of understanding, what full assurance of hope, have been often enjoyed by the faithful, when they have encountered all that is terrible to nature; divested indeed of mortal help, for this battle must be fought alone; yet, in another respect, not alone, because amply assisted by help divine! This, this is the gracious appearance

But where and how

of

of the finger of God, who leaves his people in no extremity, and certainly not in the last, nor for ever. They are made to know, and now they believe firmly, that their Redeemer hath given to them eternal life, and of course a life perfect and unalterable. To this gift they experience the addi tion of another; he causes them to feel and to rejoice in its possession, frequently before its perfect enjoyment in glory. And is this thy expectation, O reader? Let me eagerly ask myself, too; Is it mine?- Let us both inquire, with an anxious scrutiny, into the ground of our hope; let us pass over it again and again, with the book of God in our hands; lest we should be deceived,-irrevocably, eternally, deceived! If we are in the right, it must be, according to that oracle of truth, upon the principles of GRACE, and not upon the ru diments of the world or of fallen

NATURE.