And how full of divine consolation was the excellent Mr. Hervey. On the day of his death, among many other things that he said, which are worthy of being transcribed and repeated, he mentioned 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22, 23. "All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." And went on in the following language, Here is the treasure of a Christian. Death is reckoned among this inventory; and a noble treasure it is. How thankful am I for death, as it is the passage through which I pass to the Lord and Giver of eternal life; and as it frees me from all this misery you now see me endure, and which I am willing to endure, as long as God thinks fit; for I know he will, by and by, in his own good time, dismiss me from the body. These light afflictions are but for a moment, and then comes an eternal weight of glory. O! welcome, welcome death! Thou mayst well be reckoned among the treasures of the Christian. "To live is Christ, but to die is gain."* Thus died that man of God, whose praise is in the churches. Besides whom, we have had a crowd of witneffes. And whosoever understands Heb. xi. 1. " Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen;" I say, whosoever experimentally understands this incomparable definition of faith, may at once account for the Christian's triumph over the last enemy.

But it is necessary to observe, that all the children of God do not die in the comforts of the

* Hervey's Life.

Holy Ghost. We have seen some very affecting instances of the exemplary Christian his having the severest conflict in his last illness and death. I have read of an eminent divine, who had lived thirty years in the assurance of faith; notwithstanding which, he died in the dark. And let it be remembered, that there are many things at such times that tend to fill the mind with gloominess. The diseases of the body, of which the -Christian complains, often so affect the mind as to hinder the wonted exertion and exercise of its faculties: these two being so nearly connected, that in common their distresses are reciprocal.

Besides, we cannot be insensible that it is the devil's last onset; and the shorter his season of tempting is, the more violent are his efforts."The devil is come down to you," said St. John to the church, "in great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time." He cannot destroy, but he will as much as possible perplex the children of God. Add to this that the believer's comfortable living, and surely his comfortable dying, depends upon the communication of divine love, and the vigorous exercise of faith. Now God may, yea, he sometimes does, for wise reasons, suspend his gracious influences from his own children, even when on a deathbed. The Lord Jesus Christ himself, when he hung on the cross, cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" It becomes us to be silent, when the reasons of the divine conduct. are hid from us. But, alas, how apt are we at such times to say, Why is it thus?' This instance in which our

blessed Redeemer was

forsaken on the cross, should lead us to a mute behaviour under such a dispensation.

The preceding remarks may correct one mistake, which seems to be generally fallen into, viz. Christians, their almost taking it for granted, that a believer who has been eminent in life, will be no less, yea, more so in death. Whereas we

find that there is a variety of circumstances, either from the diseases of the body, the fiery darts of the wicked, or the suspension of divine influence, that may fill the mind with darkness, and cause a once shining Christian to set in a cloud. But this should not suggest any suspicion of the safety of his state, seeing it has been the lot of many of the people of God, who in life, and during a course of years, had given their intimate friends the most satisfying evidences of their acquaintance with true religion. Besides, was not Christ himself forsaken in his last minutes? Who would dare from hence to infer, that he was not the darling of the Father? The blessedness, therefore, that is spoken of in the text, is not limited to such as are so happy as to die in the comforts of the Holy Ghost. But,

2. They are blessed who die in the Lord, i. e. in his favour; who have their sins pardoned through the precious blood of Jesus, and their souls justified by his everlasting righteousness; who are united to him by ties that are indissolu ble; insomuch that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate them from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus their Lord." And this is the case

with all that are called according to his purpose. They all die in faith, and in the divine favour; though they may not be able to say, Christ loved me, and gave himself for me.' To be in the favour of God is absolutely necessary to our dying safely; and a persuasion that we are personally in his favour, is necessary to our dying comfortably. And the one may be, where the other is not. The blessedness, therefore, is annexed to those persons who die in union to Jesus, and interested in the favour of God; though it may be their great affliction to struggle hard with death, under the hidings of their Father's face. I now proceed,

II. To consider the blessedness of departed saints: "Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works follow them."

1. Note by what authority St. John publishes this glorious sentence, "Yea, saith the Spirit," the Holy Ghost, by whom holy men of God at sundry times were moved to speak; who inspired the whole of the living oracles.

2. We observe, that the dead in Christ are blessed from the moment of their departure out of this world. This seems plain from several scriptures: Solomon assures us, that at death the "dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it." Our Lord said to the penitent thief, "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." And St. Paul, in several places, has satisfied us what views he had of this matter: "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." He speaks with confidence, it being no matter of conjecture or uncertainty;

but what he, with the rest of the disciples, were persuaded of, viz. that when the body should die, the soul should immediately enter into the joy of the Lord. And in his epistle to the Philippians, he declares that he was "in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better." If the apostle had not known, that upon the dissolution of the body he should be present with the Lord, why was he anxious to depart? Death in itself is shocking: nature shrinks at the prospect of it. St. Paul, as a-man, loved his life and enjoyments too well to wish to die, barely for the sake of being dead. And as a believer in Jesus, he loved his privileges, especially that communion he had with a God in Christ, too well to be desirous of departing without an assurance that he should instantly pass to glory, where his joy should be full; or as it is here expressed, rest from his labours, and his works follow him. This is the blessedness that takes place, as soon as the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved. In the world, believers shall have tribulation; but at death,

1. They rest from all those distresses, that result from the afflictions and death of friends and rela. tives. Besides that natural sympathy, which mankind are generally possessed of, by which they are inclined to pity the afflicted, and as it were to bear a part of their burdens, real believ ers are justly supposed, in consequence of a true acquaintance with the religion of Jesus, to possess, if I may use the expression, a more delicate sensibility; inasmuch as his doctrines and example mutually tend to promote it. This di vine temper never shone in any one as it did in the adorable Son of God; and it is expected