please to take us out of the world, to introduce us into his holy Jerusalem, let us take heed to ourselves, lest at any time our hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so that day comes upon us unawares, Luke xxi. 34. And as the Apostles left their nets to follow Jesus Christ, Matth. iv; so let us leave the vain cares, the groundless fears, and the deceitful hopes, that entangle our souls, that when it shall please God to call us, we may be ready to answer his heavenly call. Let us accustom ourselves betimes to will what God willeth, and to obey him without reluctance. Let us cast all our cares upon God, 2 Pet. v. 7. and rely upon his wise and fatherly providence. Let us look with contempt upon the world, its vain pomps, and perishable riches; and esteem nothing upon the earth, nor aught that man is able to procure for us, in comparison of the blessed hope which we have in heaven, Tit. ii. 13; and the precious gift which God hath reserved for us, 2 Tim. ii. Let us prefer Job's dunghill and ashes to the proud throne and vast empire of Nebuchadnezzar. Let us esteem the beggary of poor Lazarus, more happy than the wanton abundance of the rich glutton; and let us engrave in our hearts this blessed saying of the Son of God, What is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? Luke ix. 25. Let us have always before our eyes the image of that rich worldling, who had heaped up many goods for himself, but was not rich in the sight of God. Let us remember what he said unto his soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry, Luke xii. 19; and let what God said unto him sound always in our ears, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be requir

ed of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? Instead of contriving how to enlarge our barns and granaries, and to increase our revenues and treasures, let us endeavour to set bounds to our desires, and be content with such things as we have, Heb. xiii. 5. Seeing we have but a breath in our nostrils, and that we are clothed with a mortal body, let us not entertain such distant designs, nor suffer our covetings to be immortal. Let us always, and in every place, be ready to put an end to our labours, and to lay the last stone on our building; or rather, let us be always in a disposition to loose the bands of this earthly tabernacle. Let us willingly break all the ties that attach us to this miserable world, that when death comes, it may have nothing to do but cut the last string, by which our soul is naturally united to this languishing body. Let our affections take root in heaven, that where our treasure is, our hearts may be there also, Matth. vi. 21. Let us not slumber with the foolish virgins, Matth. xxv; but having our loins girded about, and our lights burning, Luke xii. 35, let us be prepared at every moment, to go to meet our heavenly Spouse, and follow him into the marriage-chamber. Let us be like a ship at anchor, ready to sail with the first fair wind; or as a soldier, completely armed, that only waits for the day of battle, and holds himself always in readiness to mount his horse, that he may march into the field at the first sound of the trumpet. Let us send betimes all our most preci ous jewels into the most glorious palace of eternity, that our bag and baggage being already gone, we may have nothing to do but to take our last farewell. If any consideration' of flesh and blood stops us, let us break asunder all these bands by the strength of Christ, the Cap

tain of our salvation, our Nazarenism; that is to say, by the virtue of God's Holy Spirit, which he hath been graciously pleased to vouchsafe us. And if the persons whom we love and cherish the most tenderly, or even those whom we esteem the most, or those to whom we owe the greatest reverence and honour, should labour to estrange our affections, and deliver us from our holy resolution, by mean and earthly considerations, let us say to them, in the words of our Saviour to Mary Magdalen, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, John xx. 17. Stop not my course, for I have already hold of the prize, the promised crown. In short, as the Father of the faithful loosed the ram, whose horns were caught in a thicket, and offered it up for a burnt-offering unto God, Gen. xxii; so let us free our minds from all worldly cares, and carnal affections; let us offer them up to God a burnt-offering of a sweet smelling savour, as an holy and living sacrifice, Rom. xii. 1; which burns in the ardent flames of zeal and charity, yet is never consumed.

When the Christian is thus prepared, he will not fear death, but will say to it with an assured countenance,-Come when thou wilt, O death, I desire no delay, for it is a long time since I have settled all my affairs, and have waited for thee with intrepidity. The principal part of myself is not here below; my heart is already ravished into heaven, where God expects me with open arms. Therefore, notwithstanding the fearful darkness that surrounds me, and the design that thou hast to destroy me, I will follow thee as courageously, and with as much joy, as St. Peter did the angel of light, that threw open before him the gates of his prison, Acts xii.

PRAYER AND MEDITATION,

For such as prepare themselves for death, by renouncing the world.

O ALMIGHTY God, the Lord of heaven and earth, who dealest out good and evil with a divine foresight, and admirable wisdom! thou hast not permitted us to have here a continuing city, that we may seek for that which is to come. Thou hast set before our eyes the vanity and inconstancy of all things under the sun, that we may aspire to attain more solid and durable advantages. Thou hast placed and reserved in heaven inexhaustible treasures, incorruptible crowns of glory, and eternal triumphs, that we might transport thither our hearts and affections. The fountain of everlasting joys is with thee, that we may always thirst after the mighty and living God; and that we may desire, with an holy earnestness, to look upon thy beautiful and glorious face, O adorable Creator! seeing thou hast given me an immortal soul, suffer me not to be so wretched, as to grovel in the dust of this miserable earth, or to plunge myself into the filth of its abominable pleasures. Give me grace to renounce the world and all its vanities; and grant that I may possess all these decaying and perishable goods, as not possessing them; that I may trample upon all the pomp and glory of the age; that I may remember the gold, silver, and precious stones, whose outward beauty dazzles the carnal eye of man, are nothing else but a little concrete earth, that must again be dissolved into dust; and that I may never forget, that after my decease, all these things will profit me no more, than the earth and stones which shall cover my dead corpse, or the wood or lead which shall serve for a coffin. Give me grace to despise all the honours and dignities, after which the men of this world hunt so impatiently; for the fashion of them passeth away, and they are even as a shadow that flieth. Pluck out of my heart all the cares of this life, and all worldly Z

solicitudes, that death may not surprise me unprepared, and that there may be nothing to stop or hinder me from going to thee, whenever thou shalt be pleased to call me; that my soul being wholly disentangled and freed from these briars and thorns, I may be ready at every moment to offer it up to thee, a living and holy sacri fice. As thy chosen people Israel pitched their tents, or removed their camps, just according to thy command, so give me grace to be equally disposed either to live or die, to remain in this tabernacle, or depart from it. And as this people passed over the river Jordan with a wonderful joy, to take possession of the promised land; grant that I may also leave this miserable wilderness with transports of delight, to enter into the celestial Canaan, which flows with the milk and honey of divine pleasure and everlasting consolation. O God who art the portion of mine inheritance, number me not with the men of this world, whose portion is in this life. Thou satisfiest their appetite with thy good things, so that they are full, and leave sufficient for their posterity; but as for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness. and shall be satisfied with thy likeness, when I awake at the sound of the last trumpet. Amen.

CHAPTER XI.

The fifth remedy against the Fears of Death, is, to forsake vice, and to apply ourselves to the practice of true piety and holiness.

GOD is so wonderful in all his works, and disposes of his creatures in such a manner, that he forces from his very enemies the acknowledgment of his truth. You have an excellent example of this in the person of Balaam, who, beholding the tents of the children of Israel