mend your departing souls into the hands of Christ. Let it be by a lingering disease, or by an acute, by a natural or a violent death, at the fulness of your age, or in the flower of your youth, death can but separate the soul from flesh, but not from Christ; whether you die poor or rich, at liberty or in prison, in your native country or a foreign land, whether you be buried in the earth or cast into the sea, death shall but send your souls to Christ. Though you die under the reproach and slanders of the world, and your names be cast out among men as evil-doers, yet Christ will take your spirits to himself. Though your souls depart in fear and trembling, though they want the sense of the love of God, and doubt of pardon and peace with him, yet Christ will receive them.

I know thou wilt be ready to say, that thou art unworthy, 'Will he receive so unworthy a soul as mine?' But if thou art a member of Christ thou art worthy in him to be accepted. Thou hast a worthiness of aptitude, and Christ hath a worthiness of merit.

The day that cometh upon such at unawares that have their hearts overcharged with surfeiting, drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and as a snare surpriseth the inhabitants of the earth, shall be the day of thy great deliverance; "Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the 'Son of man." (Luke xxi. 34-36.) "They that are accounted worthy to obtain that world can die no more; for they are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God." (Luke xx. 35, 36.) Object. O but my sins are great and many; and will Christ ever receive so ignorant, so earthly and impure a "soul as mine?' Answer. If he have freed thee from the reign of sin, by giving thee a will that would fain be fully delivered frorn it, and given thee a desire to be perfectly holy, he will finish the work that he hath begun; and will not bring thee defiled i nto heaven, but will wash thee in his blood, and separate all the 1 remnant of corruption from thy soul, when he separateth thy e there needs no purgatory, but his blood and Spivsoul from flesh; of death shall deliver thee, that he may present thee spotless to

the Father.

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O fear not then to trust thy soul with him t That will receive it; and fear not death that can do thee no m when once thou hast overcome the fears of decore harm. the more resolute in thy duty, and faithful to cath, thou wilt be Christ, and above

the power of most temptations, and wilt not fear the face of man, when death is the worst that man can bring thee to. It is true, death is dreadful; but it is as true that the arms of Christ are joyful. It is an unpleasant thing to leave the bodies of our friends in the earth; but it is unspeakable pleasure to their souls to be received into the heavenly society by Christ.

And how confidently, quietly, and comfortably you may commend your departing spirits to be received by Christ, be informed by these considerations following.

1. Your spirits are Christ's own; and may you not trust him with his own? as they are his by the title of creation, “All souls are mine, saith the Lord;" (Ezek. xviii. 4;) so also by the title of redemption, "We are not our own, we are bought with a price." (1 Cor. vi. 19.)

Say therefore to him, 'Lord, I am thine much more than my own; receive thine own, take care of thine own. Thou drewest me to consent to thy gracious covenant, and I resigned myself and all I had to thee. And thou swarest to me, and I became thine, (Ezek. xvi. 8.) And I stand to the covenant that I made, though I have offended thee. I am sinful, but I am thine, and would not forsake thee, and change my Lord and Master for a world. O know thine own, and own my soul that hath owned thee, though it hath sinned against thee! Thy sheep know thy voice, and follow not a stranger; now know thy poor sheep, and leave them not to the devourer. Thy lambs have been preserved by thee among wolves in the world, preserve me now from the enemy of souls. I am thine, O save me, (Psalm exix. 94,) and lose not that which is thine own!'

2. Consider that thou art his upon so dear a purchase, as that he is the more engaged to receive thee. Hath he bought thee by the price of his most precious blood, and will he cast thee off? Hath he come down on earth to seek and save thee, and will he now forsake thee? Hath he lived in flesh a life of poverty, and suffered reproach, and scorn, and buffetings, and been nailed to the cross, and put to cry out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me !" And will he now forget his love, and sufferings, and himself forsake thee after this? Did he himself on the cross commend his spirit into his Father's hands, and will he not receive thy spirit when thou at death commendest it to him? He hath known himself what it is to have a human soul separated from the body, and the body buried in a grave, and there lamented by surviving friends. And why

did he this, but that he might be fit to receive and relieve thee in the like condition? O who would not be encouraged to encounter death, and lie down in a grave, that believeth that Christ did so before him, and considereth why he went that way, and what a conquest he had made!

I know an argument from the death of Christ will not prove his love to the souls of the ungodly so as to infer that he will receive them; but it will prove his reception of believers' souls: "He that spared not his own son, but gave him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. viii. 32,) is an infallible argument as to believers, but not as to those that do reject him.

Say therefore to him, O my Lord! can it be that thou couldest come down in flesh, and be abused, and spit upon, and slandered, and crucified! That thou couldest bleed, and die, and be buried for me, and now be unwilling to receive me! That thou shouldest pay so dear for souls, and now refuse to entertain them! That thou shouldest die to save them from the devil, and now wilt leave them to his cruelty! That thou hast conquered him, and yet wilt suffer him at last to have the prey! To whom can a departing soul fly for refuge, and for entertainment, if not to thee t at diedst for souls, and sufferedst thine to be separated from the flesh, that we might have all assurance of thy compassion unto ours? Thou didst openly declare upon the cross, that the reason of thy dying was to receive departed souls, when thou didst thus encourage the soul of a penitent malefactor, by telling him, "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise.' O give the same encouragement or entertainment to this sinful soul that flieth unto thee, that trusteth in thy death and merits, and is coming to receive thy doom.'

3. Consider that Jesus Christ is full of love, and tender compassion to souls. What his tears over Lazarus compelled the Jews to say," Behold how he loved him," (John xi. 36,) the same his incarnation, life, and death should much more stir us up to say, with greater admiration, Behold how he loved us.' The foregoing words, though the shortest verse in all the Bible," Jesus wept," (verse 35,) are long enough to prove his love to Lazarus; and the Holy Ghost would not have the tears of Christ to be unknown to us, that his love may be the better known. But we have a far larger demonstration of his love; "He loved us, and gave himself for us." (Gal. ii. 20.) And by what gift could he better testify his love? "He loved us, and

washed us in his blood." (Rev. i. 5.) He loved us, as the Father loveth him. (John xv. 9.) And may we not comfortably go to him that loved us? Will love refuse us when we fly unto

him?

Say then to Christ O thou that hast loved my soul, receive it! I commend it not unto an enemy. Can that love reject me, and cast me into hell, that so oft embraced me on earth, and hath declared itself by such ample testimonies!'

O had we but more love to Christ, we should be more sensible of his love to us, and then we should trust him, and love would make us hasten to him, and with confidence cast ourselves upon him.

4. Consider that it is the office of Christ to save souls, and to receive them, and therefore we may boldly recommend them to his hands. The Father sent him to be the Saviour of the world; (1 John iv. 14;) and he is effectively the Saviour of his body. (Eph. v. 23.) And may we not trust him in his undertaken office, that would trust a physician or any other in his office, if we judge him faithful? Yea, he is engaged by covenant to receive us: when we gave up ourselves to him, he also became ours; and we did it on this condition, that he should receive and save us. And it was the condition of his own undertaking; he drew the covenant himself and tendered it first to us, and assumed his own conditions, as he imposed

ours.

Say then to him, 'My Lord, I expected but the performance of thy covenants, and the discharge of thine undertaken office : as thou hast caused me to believe in thee, and love and serve thee, and perform the conditions which thou laid'st on me, though with many sinful failings, which thou hast pardoned; so now let my soul, that hath trusted on thee, have the full experience of thy fidelity, and take me to thyself according to thy covenant. "O now remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused him to hope !" (Psalm cxix. 49.) How many precious promises hast thou left us, that we shall not be forsaken by thee, but that we shall be with thee where thou art, that we may behold thy glory! For this cause art thou the mediator of the new covenant, that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. (Heb. ix. 15.) According to thy covenant, “ Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, and

of that which is to come." (1 Tim. iv. 8.) And when we have done thy will (notwithstanding our lamentable imperfections) we are to receive the promise. (Heb. x. 36.) O, now receive me into the kingdom which thou hast promised to them that love thee! (James i. 12.)

5. Consider how able Christ is to answer thine expectations; All power is given him in heaven and earth, (Matt. xxviii. 19,) and all things are given by the Father into his hands. (John xiii. 3.) All judgment is committed to him. (John v. 22.) It is fully in his power to receive and save thee; and Satan cannot touch thee but by his consent. Fear not, then; he is the first and last, that liveth, and was dead, and behold he liveth for evermore, amen: and hath the keys of hell and death. (Rev. i. 17, 18.)

Say then, if thou wilt, Lord, thou canst save this departing soul! Oh, say but the word, and I shall live! Lay but thy rebuke upon the destroyer, and he shall be restrained. When my Lord and dearest Saviour hath the keys, how can I be kept out of thy kingdom, or cast into the burning lake? Were it a matter of difficulty unto thee, my soul might fear lest heaven would not be opened to it; but thy love hath overcome the hinderances; and it is as easy to receive me, as to love me.

saw,

6. Consider how perfectly thy Saviour is acquainted with the place that thou art going to, and the company and employment which thou must there have; and, therefore, as there is nothing strange to him, so the ignorance and strangeness in thyself should therefore make thee fly to him, and trust to him, and recommend thy soul to him, and say, 'Lord, it would be terrible to my departing soul to go into a world that I never and into a place so strange, and unto company so far above me; but that I know there is nothing strange to thee, and thou knowest it for me, and I may better trust thy knowledge than mine own. When I was a child I knew not mine own inheritance, nor what was necessary to the daily provisions for my life; but my parents knew it that cared for me. The eyes must see for all the body, and not every member see for itself. Oh, cause me as quietly and believingly to commit my soul to thee, to be possessed of the glory which thou seest and possessest, as if I had seen and possessed it myself, and let thy knowledge be my trust!

7. Consider that Christ hath provided a glorious receptacle for faithful souls, and it cannot be imagined that he will lose his