that must die, and these will be felt in some measure by the partner-spirit; though that spirit, being vested with divine righteousness, or justified in the sight of God, shall survive these agonies in a peaceful immortality. Though the sufferings of the Son of God hath redeemed it from an everlasting hell, yet it becomes the offended Majesty of heaven sometimes to give sensible instances what misery the pardoned sinner has deserved; and the moment that he receives him into full blessedness, may, on some accounts, be the fittest to make a display of all his terrors, that the soul may have the full taste of felicity, and pay the higher honours to recovering grace. The demolition of the earthly tabernacle, with all the pangs and the groans that attend it, are a shadow of that vengeance which was due even to the best of saints it is fit we should see the picture of vindictive justice, before we are taken into the arms of eternal mercy. : Besides, there may be another reason that renders the dying hour of this man more dreadful too: perhaps he had walked unwatchfully before God, and had given too much indulgence to some congenial iniquity, some vice that easily beset him; now it becomes the great God to write his own hatred of sin in deep and piercing characters sometimes on his own children, that he may let the world know that he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity any where without resentment. The man had built much hay and stubble upon the divine foundation Christ Jesus, and it was proper that he should be saved so as by fire, 1 Cor. iii. 15. Will the Papist therefore attempt to support the structure of his purgatory upon such a text as this? An useless structure, and a vain attempt! That place was erected by the superstitious fancy of men, to purge out the sins of a dead man by his own sufferings, and to make him fit for` heaven in times hereafter; as though the atoning blood of Christ were not sufficient for complete pardon, or the sanctifying work of the Spirit were imperfect even after death. Whereas the design of God, in some such instances of terror, is chiefly to give now and then an example to survivors in this life, how highly he is displeased with sin, and to discourage his own people from an indulgence of the works of the flesh. Now this 'end could not be attained by all the pains of their pretended purgatory, even though it were a real place of torment, because it is so invisible and unknown. But whatsoever sorrows the dying Christian sustains in the wise administrations of Providence, it is by no means to make compensation to God for sin; the atoning work of Christ is complete still, and the sanctifying work of the Spirit perfect as soon as the soul is dismissed from earth; therefore it has an entrance into full blessedness, such as becomes a God infinite in mercy to bestow on a penitent sinner, presented before the throne in the name and righteousness of his own Son. We are complete in him, Col. ii. 10. By him made perfectly acceptable to God at our death, we are filled with all grace, and introduced into complete glory. II. The DEATH of a young Sox. [In a Letter to a Friend.] MADAM, it has been the delight and practice of the pious in all ages to talk in the words of scripture, and in the language of their God: The images of that book are bright and beautiful; and where they happily correspond with any present providence, there is a certain divine pleasure in the parallel. The Jews have ever used it as a fashionable style, and it has always been the custom of Christians in the most religious times, till iniquity and profaneness called it cant and fanaticism. The Evangelists and the Apostles have justified the practice; those later inspired authors have often indulged it, even where the prophet, or first writer of the text, had quite another subject in view and though an allusion to the words of scripture will by no means stand in the place of a proper exposition, yet it carries something divine and affecting in it; and by this means it may shine in a sermon, or a familiar epistle, and makes a pleasing similitude. militude. Accept, then, a few hints of consolation from a part of scripture, which, by an easy turn of thought, may be applied to your case. Rev. xii. 1. "A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet: v. 2. Being with child, travailed in birth: v. 5. And she brought forth a man child, and it was caught up to God and his throne: v. 6. And the woman had a place prepared of God in the wilderness, v. 14. To be nourished for a time and times: v. 9. But the great dragon that was cast out of heaven, the old serpent called the Devil and Satan, v. 13. Persecuted the woman: v. 15. And cast out of his mouth water as a flood: v. 17. And went to make war with the remnant of her seed. Thus far the words of scripture. Now, Madam, if you have put on Christ, and are clothed by faith with the Sun of righteousness; if you are drest in the shining graces of heaven, and have the pale and changing glories of this world under your feet, then you may be assured the child that you have brought forth is not lost, but is caught up to God and his throne, by virtue of that extensive covenant which includes sincere Christians and their offspring together. Mourn not therefore for your son who is with God, but rather for yourself, who are yet in the wilderness of this world, where the old serpent has so much power; where he will persecute you with the flood of his temptations, if possible to carry you away with them; but I trust God has prepared a place for your safety, even his church, his gospel, his own everlasting arms. Yet shall the serpent make war with the remnant of your seed; your little daughter that remains in the wilderness must go through this war, and be exposed to these temptations. O turn your tears from your son, into pity and prayer for yourself and your daughter, that ye may never be carried away by these floods; but when the times are past which God has appointed for your abode and nourishment in the wilderness, you may rejoice to find yourself, with all your offspring, in everlasting safety before the throne of God. Amen. So prays your affectionate, &c. May 2. 1719. III. Heathen Poesy Christianized. 1736. I. W. Ir is a piece of ancient and sacred history which Moses inform us of, that when the tribes of Israel departed from the land of Egypt, they borrowed of their neighbours gold and jewels, by the appointment of God, for the decoration of their sacrifices and solemn worship, when they should arrive at the appointed place in the wilderness. God himself taught his people how the richest of metals which had ever been abused to the worship of idols, might be purified by the fire, and, being melted up into a new form, might be consecrated to the service of the living God, and add to the magnificence and grandeur of his tabernacle and temple. Such are some of the poetical writings of the ancient Heathens: they have a great deal of native beauty and lustre in them, and, through some happy turn given them by the pen of a Christian poet, may be transformed into divine meditations, and may assist the devout and pious soul in several parts of the Christian life and worship. Amongst all the rest of the Pagan writers, I know none so fit for this service as the odes of Horace, as vile a sinner as he was. Their manner of composure comes nearer the spirit and force of the psalms of David than any other; and as we take the devotions of the Jewish king, and bring them into our Christian churches, by changing the scene and the chronology, and superadding some of the glories of the gospel, so the representation of some of the Heathen virtues, by a little more labour, may be changed into Christian graces, or at least into the image of them, so far as human power can reach. One day musing on this project, I made an experiment on the two last stanzas of Ode 29. Book iii. Non Non meum est, si mugiat Africis Ne Cypria Tyriæque merces The BRITISH FISHERMAN. I. Let Spain's proud traders, when the mast Or the rich dust Peru prepares, Defraud their long projecting cares, And add new treasures to the greedy deep. II. My little skiff, that skims the shores, Hath swell'd the storm so high, To waft my boat, and me to land, Or give some angel swift command To bear the drowning sailor to the sky. IV. REDEMPTION. I. THE mighty frame of glorious grace, |