fickness the fame natural effect upon them, and does it not equally weaken and disorder their minds? But we fee generally in experience a plain and remarkable difference between these two forts of men, when they come to die; fo plain, that it is not to be denied; and fo remarkable, that there must be fome confiderable cause of it; and fo general and constant, that it cannot without great folly and perverseness be imputed to chance. Now what can we imagine fhould be the reafon of this palpable difference between good and bad men, when they are under the apprehenfions of death, but this, that a pious and virtuous life is a real ground of peace and joy, of comfort and confidence at that time; and that impiety and wickedness are a real foundation of guilt and fear, of horror and despair in a dying hour: in a word, that the different ways and courfes of good and bad men do naturally lead to thefe different ends, and produce thefe different effects?

Either this must be granted, and then the whole cause of infidelity and vice is yielded and given up at once; or else men must fly to that which feems the most unreasonable and extravagant paradox in the world, and does effectually give up the caufe another way, viz. that a falfe opinion of things, and a mere delufion, is more apt to fupport the fainting fpirits of a dying man, and to give him more comfort and hope in the day of diftrefs, than a right and well-grounded perfuafion.

But this, as I faid before, does effectually give up the cause another way: for if this be true, then certainly they are rightest that are in the wrong; and religion, though it were a mistake, ought to be embraced and entertained by a wife man, becaufe of this great benefit and comfort of it. If this be truly the cafe, then every wife man muft fay, Let me be fo deceived; let it be my lot and portion, to live and die in fo pleasant, and comfortable, and happy an error, as that of religion is.

So that whether religion be true or falfe, it must, according to this reafoning, be neceffarily granted to be the only wife principle, and fafe hypothefis for a man to live and die by. And this very thing, that it is fo, is a ftrong evidence of the truth of religion, and even a

demon

demonftration of the real excellency of virtue; because no other fuppofition but that of religion does fo clearly folve all appearances, and fo fully and exactly answer the natural defires, and hopes, and fears of mankind. If the being of God, and the obligations of religion and virtue be admitted, this gives an easy account of the whole matter, and fhews us, that fin and vice are the foundation of guilt and trouble; and that religion and virtue do naturally produce peace and comfort: for that is to be esteemed and reckoned the natural effect of any thing, which doth generally belong to the whole kind. If thofe, who live religiously and virtuously, have generally peace and comfort when they come to die, and thofe who live wickedly are commonly full of guilt and remorfe, of fear and perplexity at that time; this is reafon enough to believe, that these are the natural effects of thofe caufes and that men, when they come to die, are, according as they have lived, afraid of the divine justice, and of the vengeance of another world, or confident of God's goodness, and the rewards of another life, is a ftrong argument of a fuperior being that governs the world, and will reward men according to their works; because no fuppofition but this doth answer the natural hopes and fears of men. And this likewife is an argument of the immortality of our fouls, and of the rewards and punishments of another life; and as good a demonftration of the reality and excellency of religion and virtue, from these happy effects of it, as the nature of the thing is capable of.

And now, to make fome reflections upon what has been faid upon this argument:

Firft, The confideration of the different ends of good and bad men is a mighty encouragement to piety and a good life. Nothing in this world fhews us fo remarkable a difference between the righteous and the wicked, as a death-bed. Then a good man moft fenfibly enjoys the comfort of a good life, and the peaceable fruits of righteoufnefs; and the finner then begins to reap the bitter fruits of fin. What a difference is there then, between the comfort and trouble, the compofure and difturbance, the hopes and fears of thefe two perfons? And next to the actual poffeffion of bleffednefs, the comfort

comfortable hopes and expectation of it are the greatest happiness; and next to being plunged into it, the fearful apprehenfions of eternal mifery are the greatest torment. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, is violently hurried out of the world full of guilt and trouble. What ftorms and tempefts are then raised in his mind, from the fear of God's juftice, and the defpair of his mercy-But the righteous hath hope in his death. The reflection upon a holy and virtuous life, and the confcience of a man's uprightnefs and fincerity, are a fpring of joy and peace to him, which refrefheth his mind with anfpeakable comfort and pleasure, under the very pangs of death. With what triumph and exultation of spirit doth the bleffed Apostle St. Paul, uppon the review of his labours and fufferings for God and his truth, fpeak of his diffolution? 2 Tim. iv. 6. 7. 8. For I am now ready to be offered up, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my courfe, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteouf nefs, which the Lord, the righteous Fudge, hall give me at that day. He fpeaks with fuch a lively fense of it, as if he had his crown in his view, and were just ready to take hold of it. And what would not a man give, what would he not be contented to do and fuffer, to be thus affected, when he comes to leave the world, and to be able to bear the thoughts of his death and diffolution with fo compofed and cheerful a mind? And yet this is the natural and genuine effe&t of a holy and useful life. And that, which the fame Apostle tells us was the ground of his rejoicing under fufferings, is likewife the comfort and fupport of good men at the time of their death, 2 Cor. i. 12. Our rejoicing, faith he, is this, the teftimony of our confcience, that in fimplicity and godly fincerity, we have had our converfation in the world. All the holy and virtuous actions of our lives are fo many feeds of peace and comfort to us at the hour of our death, which we shall more fenfibly enjoy, when we come to depart this life. For then the confciences of men are apt to deal most freely and impartially with them; and if our hearts do not

then

then condemn us, we may have comfort and confidence towards God.

I believe there are some very pious and good fouls, who have lived very difconfolate and full of doubtings, and been under a cloud the greatest part of their lives, who yet upon the approach of death, and juft as they were leaving the world, have broken forth, as the fun fometimes doth juft before his fetting. I know it is not always thus; there are, I doubt not, fome good men who go out of this world with little or no comfort; and yet fo foon as they step into another world, are encompaffed with joy unspeakable and full of glory: and though the comfort of fuch perfons be not fo early and forward, yet it cannot chufe but be extremely welcome: and it must needs put a doubting and trembling foul into a strange kind of extafy and ravishment, to be thus unexpectedly furprized with happiness.

Secondly, Since this is fo great and evident a teftimony of the truth and goodness of religion, is it not a ftrange thing, and to be wondered at, that true religion and virtue fhould be fo little practifed, and impiety and vice fhould fo generally prevail in the world, against fo many bars and obftacles, and against fuch invincible objections to the contrary? Not only against our inward judgment and confcience, but against the general fenfe and experience of men in all ages, the conftant declarations and teftimonies of dying men, both good and bad, when they are most serious, and their words are thought to be of greatest credit and weight; against the best and fobereft reafon of mankind, and their true interest and happiness; against the health of mens bodies, and, which is the most dear and valuable thing in the world, the peace and quiet of their minds; and that not only in the time of life and health, but in the hour of death, when men ftand most in need of comfort and support: in a word, against the grain of human nature, and in defpite of mens natural fears of divine vengeance, and to the defeating of all our hopes of a bles fed immortality in another world, and against the inflexible nature and reason of things, by no art or endeavour of man, by no colours of wit, or fubtilty of difcourfe, by no practice or custom to the contrary, by no confpiracy

confpiracy or combination of men, ever to be changed or altered? So that we may fay with David, Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, no confideration of themselves, no tenderness and regard to their prefent and future intereft? Nay, if there were no life after this, fetting afide the case of extreme fuffering and perfecution, religion and virtue are certainly to be chofen, not only for our contentment in life, but for our comfort in death and if there be a ftate of happiness or mifery remaining for men after death, as moft affuredly there is, much more in order to the attaining of that endless happiness, and the avoiding of that eternal and intolerable mifery. O that men were wife, that they understood this, and would confider their latter end!

SERMON CLXXXVIII.

The usefulness of confidering our latter end.

PSALM XC. 12.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wifdom.

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HE title of this pfalm tells us who was the author of it. It is called, A prayer of Mofes, the man of God; or, as the Chaldee paraphrafe more exprefly, The prayer which Mofes, the prophet of the Lord, prayed, when the people of the houfe of Ifrael finned in the wilderness. Upon which provocation of theirs, God in great displeasure threatened, and was immutably refolved, that they should all perish in the wilderness, and that none of the men that came out of Egypt, Caleb and Joshua only excepted, fhould enter into the promised land, but fhould all die in the space of forty years.

Upon this occafion, Mofes made this pfalm or prayer VOL. VIII.

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