5. Consider mankind in regard to certain decisive occasions, which like touchstones discover their hearts. We do not know ourselves, we form false ideas of ourselves, when our virtues have not been brought to the test. We imagine, we incline to be patient, clement and charitable, in cases where we are not tried, where neither our fortune, nor our réputation, nor our honor are affected but the moinent a stroke is aimed at any of these the countenance changes, the brain ferments, the mouth foams, and we breathe nothing but hatred and vengeance. Nothing is more common among us than to talk highly of justice, to detest and censure iniquity, and to engage ourselves inviolably to follow such rules of equity as are marked out in the divine law. Let any man bring an action against us, with reason or without, and all these ideas vanish, we instantly become familiar with the very vices, to which we thought we had an invincible aversion. We disguise our cause, we suppress unfavorable circumstances, we impose on our counsel, we try to take even the judges by surprise, we pretend to make great matters of the importance of our rank, the worth of our names, the credit of our families, the tone of our voices, and all this we wish to incorporate in our cause. A disinterested spirit is always the subject of our utmost admiration and praise. A generous man is the admiration of all mankind, his noble actions unite all hearts, and every man is eager to give such actions their dignity and praise : but no sooner have we a little business to do, in which we have no kind of interest, but disinterested

ness appears odious to us, and magnanimity seems to us more proper for a hero of a romance than for a man living and acting in society, and generous actions appear to us mere creatures of imagination. O how little does the multitude deserve consideration in regard to manners!

IV. No more ought they to be imitated in regard to the manner, in which they quit the world. Here I foresee, my brethren, you will all side with one another against our doctrine, and that we shall be obliged to blame both persons and things about dying people; such as are dying, such as surround them, such as visit them; in short, all are in disorder in the case before us. Almost every person that dies is canonized. If the light of christianity had not abolished deification, we should have filled heaven with saints and heroes and deified souls. Each house of mourning echoes with the praises of the dead, none of his looks toward heaven are forgotten, not a sigh, not an ejaculation hath escaped notice. The funeral convoys of persons the most worldly, whose hearts had been the most hardened in sin, are all uttering orations in praise of the dead. For our parts, my brethren, we, who have seen a great number of sick people, and attended many in their dying hours, we freely grant, that the salvation of many of them is probable. We have hardly seen one, of whose salvation we quite despair: but how seldom have we been inclined to say, while we saw such people expire, uttering the language of the most eminent saints in scripture, Let us die the death of these rightous people, and let our last end be like theirs! Numb.

xxiii. 10. I will give you a short list of general mistakes on this subject.

The first mistake is this. Most sick people are ingenious to disguise the danger of their illness. Be not conformed to this world. Whenever a dangerous illness attacks you, be aware of your condition, and let each say to himself, I have not long to live, at least this may be my last illness. My brethren, this supposition is never unseasonable, we are in little danger of being deceived by thinking death at hand, for the numberless accidents to which we are exposed justify the thought. Is there any thing extravagant, pray, in affirming that sickness added to all these accidents renders the near approach of death highly probable?

The second mistake is this. Most dying people put off the regulation of their temporal affairs too Tong. Be not conformed to this world. You should take patterns from better models both for reasons of affection, and reasons of prudence. True affection to a family engages a man to preclude in favour of his heirs such troubles and divisions as are the inseparable consequences of an undivided or perplexed estate. Prudence, too, will foresee, that while our minds are all occupied about temporal affairs, a thousand ideas will intrude to disturb our devotion. Do not wait till the last moment to settle your af fairs, to make your will, to dispose of your family, and be not so weak as to imagine that the discharge of these necessary duties will hasten your death. Employ yourselves wholly about the state of your souls, and let each say to himself, since I have been

in the world I have hardly devoted one whole day to devotion: since I have been a member of the church I have been exercised about affairs which interest the whole society: but now that I am come to the end of my life, now I am passing out of this world, now that I am going where I shall have no more portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun, disturb me no more, ye worldly ideas; thou fashion of this world passing away, appear no more in my sight: ye wild fowls, interrupt my sacrifice no more.

The third mistake is this. Most dying people delay sending for their ministers till the last moment. They would have us do violence to the laws of nature, they set us to exhort trunks, to instruct carcases, to prepare skin and bones for eternity. Be not conformed to this world. Why should ye delay? Is there any thing odious in our ministry? We do not bring death along with us, we do not hasten its approach if we denounce the judgments of God against you, it is not with a design to terrify you, but to free you from them, and to pull you out of the fire, Jude 23.

To these I add a fourth mistake. Most dying people think it a duty to tell their pastors of excellent sentiments, which indeed they have not, and they are afraid to discover their defects. When death makes his formidable appearance before them, they think religion requires them to say, they are quite willing to die. We desire, say they, to depart, when alas! all their desires are to make a tabernacle in the world, for it is good, they think, to be

there. They tremble at the coming of Christ, and yet they cry, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Ah! Be not conformed to this world, open thy heart that it may be known, discover the maladies of thy soul, that we may apply such remedies as are proper. Do not imagine you will acquire such sentiments and emotions as saints of the first order had by talking their language: but imbibe their principles in your mind, and their tempers in your heart, before you make use of their language.

The fifth mistake is this, Most dying people speak to their ministers only in the presence of a great number of attendants, and most attendants interfere in what ministers say on those occasions. Be not conformed to this world. Two reasons may convince you of the necessity of being alone. The first regards the pastor. Surrounding attendants divert his attention from the sick person. The second regards the sick person himself. Would it be just or kind to give him directions in public? What! would you have us in the presence of a husband lay open the intrigues of an immodest wife, and endeavour to bring her to repent of her lasciviousness by convicting her of her crimes? Would you have us reprove the head of a family for the iniquity that has disgraced his long life, in the presence of his son? Would you have us exhort a dying man to make restitution of his ill-gotten wealth in the presence of an hungry heir, who already gluts his eyes, and satiates his soul with hopes of succession? Were we casuists after the Roman fashion, did we compel consciences to reveal secrets to us, which ought to be confessed to