"ever, he will be our guide even unto death." And SER M. again, Pfal. lxxiii. 23, 24, 25, 26.

"Nevertheless,

"I am continually with thee: thou haft holden me "by my right hand. Thou fhalt guide me with

thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is "none upon earth that I defire befides thee. My "flesh and my heart faileth: but GoD is the ftrength of my heart, and my portion for ever." Thus a good man not only in the contemplation of death, and upon the approach of it, but even under the very pangs of it, is apt to comfort himfelf in the divine mercy and goodnefs, and to rejoice in the hopes of the glory of GoD.

cr

But the wicked, on the contrary, when death makes its approach towards them, the guilt of their wicked lives flies in their faces, and disturbs their minds, and fills them with horror and amazement, with a fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation to confume them." "The expectation "of the wicked is wrath," faith Solomon, Prov. xi. 23. what is the hope of the hypocrite," that is, of the wicked man," when GOD fhall take away "his foul?" Job xxvii. 8. In their life-time they' neglected GoD and religion, and perhaps denied him, or faid unto him with thofe in the xxift chap. ver. 14. "depart from us, for we defire not the

knowledge of thy ways;" and when they come to die, they find that GOD is " departed from

them," They have not the confidence to took up to him, or to expect any mercy or favour from him, being confcious to themfelves, that they have "denied the GoD which is above," or at leaft negleted and defpifed him; and now "the terrors of:

"the

CLXXXVII.

CLXXXVI.

SERM." the almighty take hold of them, and his arrows "stick fast in them," and wound their confciences, and they cannot pluck them out, or get rid of them; their spirits are ready to fink within them, and the principles of infidelity which they once relied upon, now fail them, and instead of miniftring any comfort and confidence to them, they pierce them to the heart, and are the greatest ground of their trouble and despair.

So that here is a very visible and remarkable difference between good and bad men when they come to die. Good men have commonly a great calm and ferenity in their minds, are full of good hopes of the mercy and favour of GOD to them, and of the fenfe of his loving kindness, which is better

than life it felf"; and are willing to leave this world, in the comfortable expectation and affurance of a better condition after death; and not only willing, but many times heartily glad, that they are going out of this" vale of tears," out of this fink of fin and forrows, that they are quitting thefe drooping manfions, and exchanging these "earthly taber"nacles, for a building of GOD, a houfe not made "with hands, eternal in the heavens :" whereas the wicked is full of trouble and anguish, and his mind in greater pain and disorder than his body; all ftorm and tempeft, "like the troubled fea, when "it cannot reft; there is no peace, faith my GOD, "to the wicked." And "how can there be peace," when his whoredoms and adulteries, his repeated acts of drunkenness and intemperance, his profane oaths and blafphemies, have been fo many? when he is conscious to himself what a life he hath led, and is thoroughly awakened to a juft fenfe of the evil of his doings?

CLXXXVU.

doings? and when death makes up to him, how SER M. does he dread the fight and thoughts of it, and how does he hanker after life, as if all his happiness depended upon it, and ended with it? and at last, like the young man in the gospel, "he goes away for"rowful, because, perhaps, he had great poffef"fions" in this world, and hath no hopes at all in the other. "This is the portion of a wicked man "from GOD, and the heritage appointed to him " by God."

There are, I confefs, fome exceptions to the contrary on both fides; but they are but few in comparifon, and by no means fufficient to infringe the general truth of this obfervation.

On the other hand, fome good men are very melancholy and difpirited, when they come to die, and leave the world full of fears and jealoufies concerning their future condition; and this may proceed from several causes. Perhaps they are naturally of a dark and melancholy temper, which is usually heightened and increased by bodily weakness and diftemper; and in this cafe it is no wonder, if the confiderations of religion be not fufficient to scatter thefe clouds, and to over-rule and correct the irregu. larities of our bodily temper; because the principles and confiderations of religion do not work naturally and by way of phyfick, but morally, and by way of conviction and counfel. Sometimes this fear and dejection of mind in good men, proceeds from mere lowness and faintnefs of fpirit, naturally caused by the load and continuance of the diftemper which they labour under, and by which the mind is likewife in fome degree weakened and broken; and when this happens, it is ufually very visible, and

confe

SERM. confequently the account of it eafy and obvious; CLXXXVII. and fometimes perhaps we are charitably mif

taken in our good man, and either he is not a fincerely good man, or not fo good as we took him to be; perhaps his life hath been very unequal, and full of great failings and in either cafe, it is no wonder, if the man have not that peace and comfort, which is anfwerable to our good opinion of him; if this man be not fincerely good, there is no real foundation of peace and comfort; for " the "hope of the hypocrite fhall perifh: whofe hope "shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be as a fpi"der's web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall << not stand; he shall hold it faft, but it fhall not "endure" as one of Job's friends fpeaks, Job viii. 14, 15. And ver. 20. " Behold, God will not caft "away a perfect, or fincere man; neither will "he help, or fupport the evil doers." Or tho' he have been in the main a good man, yet perhaps with a great mixture of imperfection, and many great failings, and neglects; and then it is no wonder, if his mind be not fo calm, and clear of doubts and jealoufies concerning his condition: for proportionably to the breaches and inequalities of our obedience, and our more and greater failings, will our peace and comfort, living and dying, be naturally abated and interrupted. But these cafes are not many, it is fufficient that it is generally otherwise with good men, and that their end is peace. And this is fo remarkable, that Balaam, when he was reckoning up the bleffings and privileges of the people of Ifrael, the type of good men in all ages, he takes particular notice of their happy end, as a most fignal and invaluable bleffing; which made him

break

"Let SER M.

break out into that wish, Numb. xxiii. 10. "me die the death of the righteous, and let my last CLXXXVII. "end be like his."

And on the other hand, it cannot be denied, but that some very bad men, (as bad as we can well imagine) have paft out of this world, not only quiet and undifturbed, but with a great deal of courage and refolution. And this I believe in fact and experience, at least according to my best observation, is the more rare cafe of the two; for a notorious bad man to die in perfect peace, than for a good man to die in great trouble and perplexity of mind. But this, when it happens, may probably enough be afcribed to one or more of these caufes, either to the mistake of the by-ftanders, who take filence for peace; and because the man is of a strong refolution, and hath a good command of himself, and does not think fit to trouble others, in a matter in which he thinks they can give him no comfort and relief; they interpret this to be tranquillity of mind: because he holds his peace and fays nothing, they think he hath peace, and that all is quiet within. But I remember the obfervation of a very wife hiftorian, Phil. Comines, who says, that he knew in his time several great perfons, who in ordinary converfation, and to a fuperficial view, feemed to be very happy and contented, but yet to them who knew them more intimately, and in their private freedoms and receffes, were the most miferable and discontented perfons in the world. This I confess is very rare, for men to conceal a very great trouble, and more yet for a man to diffemble when dying; and yet there is reafon to believe it fometimes

happens.

VOL. X.

G

Some