of Iniquity; and have thereby fhewn, that they preferred even eternal Infamy, to eternal Oblivion. And, indeed, there is fomething fo inexpreffibly sweet in thefe Appetites, when placed on their proper Objects, and directed to their proper Ends; there is fomething fo tranfcendently lovely and delightful, in the distant View of living for ever in the Enjoyment of the Author of all Blifs, that if the Belief of it were an Error, and might be proved fuch; a wife Man would choose rather to be mistaken, with the enlivening Hopes of an Eternity, than to be in the right, under the mortifying Expectation of becoming nothing.

But this, God be praifed, is fo far from being the Cafe, that Nature, Reason, and Religion all confpire to confirm the faithful Chriftian, that Immortality will be his Portion. -So capacious are our Faculties, and fo little able is the whole prefent World to fatisfy them; that this alone must not only raife the Soul to afpire ftrongly at an Eternity, but likewife give her good Affurances of the Certainty of it. For if it be remember'd, that the Perfections of that God who made us are infinite, and that it is impoffible for him either to create Appetites without proper Objects to fatisfy them, or to fuffer his faithful Servants to be unrewarded ; these Confiderations alone are fufficient to make the ftrongeft Cavils of Infidelity fly before them,

and

and to reduce the Infidel to a Neceffity of denying the very Being of that God, in Order to avoid the Force of them. And if to

this moral Certainty we add yet farther the ineffable Comforts of that infallible Word of Promise, which is gracioufly given us in the Gofpel; I am perfuaded that there are none here present but would accufe me of Prefumption, fhould I attempt to describe the Happiness of that Mind, which at its Departure shall be conscious of having a covenanted Title to it: Or fhould I think myself able, by any Words, juftly and equally to represent to you, how elevated must be the Thoughts, how extended the Expectations, how tranfporting the Hopes, of the faithful Christian, when he knows himself to be bordering on Eternity, and just ready to enter the Gates of Heaven, where his Converfation has long been. And in Order therefore to judge of it, I fhall only recommend it to you to anticipate a little the fatal Hour, (and God knows it may be but a very little) by reflecting on your own Departure as approaching.

And in fo doing, let it be confidered, What it will then be to have an early Foretafte of Divine Confolations, as foon as human ones become infignificant; What it will then be to have our Sins washed away with the precious Blood of the Son of God; What it will then be to have our Incapacities of Happiness removed, and all our Defects fupplied,

by

by the overflowing Goodness of our dear Redeemer; and What will it then be to be able with the bleffed Martyr St. Stephen, to look up in our laft Moments, and fee the Heavens opened, and the bleffed Jefus fitting at the right Hand of God, there ready to receive us into thofe Manfions of Blifs which he has purchased and prepared for us. And when you have thus tafted and feen how good and gracious the Lord is, I leave it to yourfelves to measure the Extent, and afcertain the Degrees of their Happiness in dying, who die in the Lord.

To conclude then; the great Differences between the Death of the righteous and that of the wicked Man, are in fhort these. The one lofes nothing that he esteems a subftantial Good; the other is deprived of every Thing which he either defires or esteems as fuch. The one is beyond a Poffibility of any future Sufferings; the other is at leaft in Danger of them, and that of fuch as will laft to all Eternity. The one expects and hopes for no greater Happiness than that of perifhing like the Beafts of the Earth; the other is infallibly certain of seeing his God as he is, and of being fatisfied with the Fulness of Joy which is in his Prefence, and with the eternal Pleasures of his right Hand.

Which being seriously and duly confidered, I appeal to the Confciences of all that hear me to determine whether the Prophet could express

5

A ferious Recol

exprefs more Earneftness in his Petition than it deserved; and whether any Applications can be too ftrict, any Labours too great or illbestowed, in Order to attain it. If not, then are the Inferences, to be drawn from the Acknowledgment of thefe Truths, fo very plain and natural, that I may well be spared the Mention of them. lection of our past Lives, and an hearty Sorrow for, and Amendment of, what has been amils, together with an unwearied Application to all thofe Graces and Duties which are made the Condition of our Happiness, by the Author of it; these are fuch eafy Confequences as every Man's own Confcience will faithfully draw for him, if he will be as faithful in the Purfuit of them. In Order to which it is abfolutely neceffary, that we fhould implore frequently and earnestly that Divine Affiftance, without which we fhall be found too unequally matched in our Chriftian Warfare, that fo the Divine Grace co-operating with our most earnest Endeavours, we may acceptably perform the Terms of our Salvation, which may be fum'd up in this, That we muft first live the Life of the Righteous, if we would have our laft End be like his.

SERMON