NOTE XXVII. page 91.

The Litany in use in our church contains a petition against sudden death, particularly suitable to a humble mind, as humility is here described. I have heard this very petition objected to: I have actually heard a sinful child of fallen Adam, a professed follower of the lowly Jesus, express an anxiety for sudden death, and ground that expression on a presumed certainty of salvation. And can this be a symptom of true piety? Is there then a state attainable on earth wherein hope no longer "abideth?" (1 Cor. 13. 13.) where the soul may "know" like as also "it is known," (1 Cor. 13. 12.) and no longer infer from the "mercy" of God, "Therefore shalt thou be feared?" (Psalm 130. 4.) O Almighty Father, keep me in the fear of thee; save me "from all blindness of heart, from pride, "vain glory, and hypocrisy." (Litany.) "Lord, let

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me know mine end, and the number of my days, "that I may be certified how long I have to live." (Psalm 39. 4.) Let not that hour come suddenly upon me when I must appear before thine awful presence. Defend me from the "arrow that flieth by day," from "the pestilence that walketh in dark"ness;" (Psalm 91. 4, 5.) yea, "from lightning and "tempest, from plague, pestilence, and famine, from "battle and murder, and from sudden death, good "Lord, deliver us." (Litany.)

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THE END.

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