sick; nay, he sometimes has been compelled to say, when walking in darkness without any light, that his hope is cut off for his part, that his strength and his hope are perished from the Lord. When the waters are come in unto his soul, and he sinks in deep mire, where there is no standing,-when he is come into deep waters, where the floods overflow him,-when all the Almighty's waves and billows are gone over him, he is sometimes weary of his crying,—his throat is dried, his eyes fail while he waits for his God; yet he hopes the Lord will command His loving-kindness in the day-time, and in the night his song shall be with Him, and his prayer unto the God of his life. In my prosperity, I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy favour, thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. I cried unto thee, O Lord, and unto the Lord I made my supplication. For His anger endureth but a moment. In His favour is life. Weeping may endure for a night; but joy cometh in the morning. Their hope is never as the giving up of the ghost, like the hope of the wicked. In their lowest state they are generally enabled to expostulate with themselves, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me! Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

It would be hard to make a dutiful, affectionate child say of his poor, aged, and even profligate parents, He is not the father who begat me, she is not the mother that bare me. When they are cast off by all the world besides, he will still cleave to them as the parents of his youth; and if he cannot redress their wrongs, and plead their cause, or extenuate their crimes, still he will not, he cannot, disown or neglect them, and leave them to perish. Shall the strong and invincible affection of an earthly child make him acknowledge and plead a temporal connection with the most unworthy parents upon earth and shall not the eternal affection of the child of God make him cleave more closely to his Heavenly Father, who only is and does good. His language, in the utmost extremity, will be, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in Him. There is a wonderful connection and affection between God and His people. Christ is in them the hope of glory. They are the house of Christ if they hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of their hope firm unto the end. They have the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began. Their life is hid with Christ in God. They are looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious ap

pearing of the great God, and their Saviour Jesus Christ. And shall Christ be in them, and they in Him? Shall they esteem Him the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely? Shall His name be to them as ointment poured forth? Shall they count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord? Shall God thus have drawn them to Himself through His Son ? Shall they have the love of the Father, and the grace of the Son, and the communion of the Holy Ghost? And, after all, shall they not have the full assurance of hope unto the end? Hope must leave them when they enter the portals of Heaven, because it shall be swallowed up in fruition; for what a man seeth and enjoyeth, how can he yet hope for it? But they shall be safely landed on the other side of the swelling flood, before the heavenly conductor withdraw. Then shall they part; not reluctantly, because she has done her duty; and they are safely landed in Immanuel's land. Part, did I say? They shall never part. Her name only shall be changed, and the inhabitants of heaven shall enjoy her company under another and a better designation. She is one of the family of heaven. She is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. She shall, therefore, be ever with them; but no longer known under the name of hope; but by the wonderful name of the enjoyment of the Father, Son, and Spirit, through everlasting ages. If in this life only Christians had hope, they would be of all men the most miserable. They may have fightings without, and fears within; they may have sometimes greater, and sometimes lesser light; but their light shall never be put out into obscure darkness. The coal which is left in the darkest seasons shall never be quenched. The tender-hearted Redeemer will never break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax; for the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee, (Psal. xlvi. 48; 1 Pet. i. 3.)

Lastly, The death of the righteous is a joyful death.

If there were one wicked person within this house,—one person unreconciled to God, and, consequently, unprepared for heaven,-one person who counts this world his rest, and would wish to stay here for ever, and, consequently, would say of this world, as the son of the unfortunate Sir Walter Raleigh said when he arrived at the town of St. Thomas, in quest of his expected mines of gold,—This, said he, is the golden mine; and no wise man expects any other. So they say of earth, This is the only heaven we desire; and we could dwell in it

9

Then,

for ever. If there be one single individual here of this description, he will think I have said too much about the death of the righteous; and that I have now uttered a clear paradox, in saying the death of the righteous is a joyful death. But I would reply to such a person, My friend, be not so hasty in your conclusions. Accept of Jesus Christ, and submit to Him as your Prophet, Priest, and King; and you will soon be of a different opinion. It is possible, it is certain, that the death of the righteous is a death of joy. Joy is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Joy, as well as peace, is one of the fruits of the Spirit, with which the people of God are filled by the God of peace, that they may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. After this divine companion has taken up His residence in the heart, the people of God can draw water with joy out of the wells of salvation. Then, like a man who has gained the summit of the Alps, or the Andes, they see the world under their feet. The clouds and mists of the prejudices and passions of this world, which hide the Sun of Righteousness from others, float far beneath their footstool. while the many are saying, Who will shew us any good? they say, Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us! Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. Or, in language more lofty still, they say, Although the fig-tree shall not blossom; neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. This may seem to some the language of enthusiasm ; but if the people of God seem vile in their eyes by speaking thus, they will be yet more vile. Therefore, being justified by faith, say they, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into the grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of Christ is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

There is a lock which the key of the learning of this world cannot turn; but it is easily opened by an inspired pen. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Our light

affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Physic is seldom agreeable; but it prevents or cures disease. Labour is wearisome; but it contributes to health, and is sweetened by reward; for in all labour there is profit. As both of these must be submitted to by those who would pass honestly and comfortably through this world, so, through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of heaven. When the Apostle John saw the vision of what he has revealed, he informs us, that one of the elders put this question, What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on on them nor any heat; for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

My friends, I am now got into such a fertile spot, that I scarce know what first to pluck and present. The tree of life seems to stand before me while I am speaking of the joyful death of the saints. Nothing is now denied me to present before you which the word of consolation can yield; which, when it is found by the saints and eaten, is to them the joy and rejoicing of their heart. Keeping it still in their eye, and in their heart, they proceed, from step to step, unwearied, until, at last, they appear before God in Zion. Their joy increases at every step. The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. They have joy in retrospect, and joy in prospect. When they look back unto the rock whence they were hewn, and the hole of the pit whence they were digged, they sing in strains similar to those of the mother of the Baptist. Whence is this, said she, that the mother of my Lord should come unto me. Who, they say, made us to differ? We were once without hope, and without God in the world. We were strangers to God, and enemies to Him in our minds, and by wicked works. They acknowledge, like one of the greatest of saints, that they were once the chief

of sinners. But God, say they, who is rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace we are saved. Often do they take a solitary walk, by the world unseen and unknown, and look at the precipice over which they were hanging, when free, rich, and sovereign mercy, plucked them as brands from the burning. Struck with the freeness, fulness, and fitness of divine grace, mercy, and love, extended to them, the most unworthy, they exclaim, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God! therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God ! And it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know, that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as He is pure. Again, they look forward to the happy hour when they shall go to God, their exceeding joy. Whom, having not seen, they love; in whom, though now they see Him not, yet believing, they rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. They recollect, and are transported with the thought, that, in His presence there is fulness of joy, and at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore. But they can form only a very inadequate conception of the joys of the blessed. For eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. When they are thus placed upon Tabor, and see their title sure to an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them, then there are none of the things that befall them in this world which greatly grieve them. They consider themselves as strangers and sojourners on earth. The mighty bustle which the kind of rational worms which people it make about its perishing, unsatisfying vanities, astonishes and grieves them. They say to them when they can obtain an audience, We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. Come ye with us, and we will do you good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. Their only care for themselves is, that they may finish their course with joy. They think often of the immense number who, through faith and patience, are now inheriting the promises. And seeing they are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, they lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset them, and run with patience the race that is set before them. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith, who, for the joy that was set before