pick out the wanton eye. The obscene filthy tongue will at length be quiet, in the land of silence! and grim death embracing the body in its cold arms, will effectually allay the heat of all fleshly lusts.

Fourthly, In a word, it may check our earthly-mindedness; and at once knock down the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Ah! if we must die, why are we thus? Why so fond of temporal things, so anxious to get them, so eager in the embraces of them, so mightily touched with the loss of them? Let me, upon a view of the house appointed for all living, bespeak the wordling in the words of Solomon, Prov. xxiii. 5, Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they flee away as an eagle towards heaven.' Riches and all worldly things are but a fair nothing; they are that which is not. They are not what they seem to be, they are all nothing but gilded vanities, that deceive the eye. Comparatively they are not; there is infinitely more of nothingness, and not being, than of being and reality, in the best of them. What is the world, and all that is in it, but a fashion, or fair show, such as men make on a stage; a passing show? 1 Cor. vii. 31. Royal pomp is but a gaudy show, or appearance, in God's account, Acts xxv. 23. The best name they get is, good things; but, observe it, they are only the wicked man's good things, Luke xvi. 25, Thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things,' says Abraham, in the parable, to the rich man in hell. And well may the men of the world call these things their goods, for there is no other good in them, about them, nor attending them. Now, wilt thou set thine eyes upon empty shows and fancies? Wilt thou 'cause thine eyes to fly on them?' as the word is. Shall men's hearts fly out at their eyes upon them, as a ravenous bird on its prey? If they do, let them know that, at length, these shall fly as fast away from them, as ever their eyes flew upon them, like a flock of fair-feathered birds, that settle on a fool's ground, the which, when he runs to catch them as his own, do immediately take wing, fly away, and sitting down on his neighbour's ground, elude his expectation. Luke xii. 20, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall these things be? Though you do not make wings to them, as many do, they make themselves wings, and fly away; not as a tame house-bird, which may be catched again; nor as a hawk, that will show where she is by her bells, and be called again with the lure; but as an eagle, which quickly flies out of sight, and

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cannot be recalled. Forbear thou to behold these things, O mortal! there is no reason thou shouldst set thine eyes upon them. This world is a great inn, on the road to eternity, to which thou art travelling. Thou art attended by these things, as servants belonging to the inn, where thou lodgest, they wait upon thee, while thou art there; and when thou goest away, they will convoy thee to the door. But they are not thine, they will not go away with thee, but return to wait on other strangers, as they did on thee.

Fifthly, It may serve as a spring of Christian resolution, to cleave to Christ, adhere to his truths, and continue in his ways, whatever he may suffer for so doing. It would much allay the fear of man, that bringeth a snare. "Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die Isaiah li. 12. Look on persecutors as pieces of brittle clay, that shall be dashed to pieces; for then shall ye despise them as foes that are mortal; whose terrors to others in the land of the living, shall die with themselves. The serious consideration of the shortness of our time, and the certainty of death, will teach us, that all the advantage we can make by our apostacy, in time of trial, is not worth the while; it is not worth going out of the way for; and what we refuse to forego for Christ's sake, may quickly be taken from us by death. But, we can never lose it so honourably, as for the cause of Christ and his gospel; for, what glory is it, that ye give up what ye have in the world, when God takes it away from you by death, whether you will or not? This consideration may teach us to undervalue life itself, and choose to forego it, rather than to sin. The worst that men can do, is to take away that life which we cannot long keep, though all the world should conspire to help us to retain the spirit. And if we refuse to offer it up to God, when he calls for it in defence of his honour, he can take it from us another way, as it fared with him who would not burn for Christ, but was afterwards burnt by an accidental fire in his house.

Lastly, It may serve for a spur, to incite us to prepare for death. Consider, (1.) Your eternal state will be according to the state in which you die: death will open the doors of heaven or hell to you. As the tree falls, so it shall lie through eternity. If the infant be dead-born, the whole world will not raise it to life again; and if one die out of Christ, in an unregenerate state, there is no more hope of him for ever. (2.) Seriously consider what it is to go into another world; a world of spirits, wherewith we are very little acquainted. How frightful is con

verse with spirits to poor mortals in this life! and how dreadful is the case, when men are hurried away into another world, not knowing but devils may be their companions for ever! Let us then give all diligence to make, and advance our acquaintance with the Lord of that world. (3.) It is but a short time ye have to prepare for death: therefore, now or never, seeing the time assigned for preparation will soon be over. Eccles. ix. 10, 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might : for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.' How can we be idle, having so great a work to do, and so little time to do it in ? But if the time be short, the work of preparation for death, though hard work, will not last long. The shadows of the evening make the labourer work cheerfully, knowing the time to be at hand, when he shall be called in from his labour. (4.) Much of our short time is over already; and the youngest of us all cannot assure himself that there is as much of his time to come as is past. Our life in the world is but a short preface to a long eternity: and much of the tale is told. Oh! shall we not double our diligence, when so much of our time is spent, and so little of our great work is done? (5.) The present time is flying away; and we cannot bring back time past, it hath taken an eternal farewell of us; there is no kindling the fire again that is burnt to ashes. The time to come is not ours-and we have no assurance of a share in it when it comes. We have nothing we can call ours, but the present moment; and that is flying away! How soon our time may be at an end, we know not. Die we must, but who can tell us when? If death kept one set time for all, we were in no hazard of a surprise; but daily observation shows us there is no such thing. Now the flying shadow of our life allows no time for loitering. The rivers run speedily into the sea from whence they came; but not speedily as man to the dust from whence he came. The stream of time is the swiftest current, and quickly runs out to eternity. Lastly, if once death carry us off, there is no coming back again to mend our matters, Job xiv. 14, ‘If a man die, shall he live again?' Dying is a thing we cannot get a trial of; it is what we can do only once, Heb. ix. 27, 'It is appointed unto men once to die.' And that which can be but once done, and yet it is of so much importance, that our all depends on our having it done right; we have need to use the utmost diligence, that we may do it well. Therefore, prepare for death, and do it timously.

If

ye who are unregenerate ask me what ye shall do prepare for death, that ye may die safely? I answer, I have told

you already what must be done: and that is, your nature and state must be changed; ye must be born again; ye must be united to Jesus Christ by faith. And till this is done, ye are not capable of other directions which belong to one's dying comfortably, whereof we may discourse afterwards in the due place.

HEAD II.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWIXT THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED IN THEIR DEATH.

The wicked is driven away in his wickedness; but the righteous hath hope in his death.-Proverbs xiv. 32.

THIS text looks like the cloud betwixt the Israelites and Egyptians, having a dark side towards the latter, and a bright side towards the former. It represents death like Pharaoh's gaoler, bringing the chief butler and the chief baker out of one prison; the one to be restored to his office, and the other to be led to execution. It shows the difference betwixt the godly and ungodly in their death; who, as they act a very different part in life, so in death, have a vastly different exit.

FIRST, AS to the death of a wicked man: here is, (1.) The manner of his passing out of the world; "He is driven away:" namely, in his death: as is clear from the opposite clause. He is forcibly thrust out of his place in this world; driven away as chaff before the wind. (2.) The state he passeth away in. He dies in a sinful and hopeless state. First, in a sinful state; "He is driven away in his wickedness." He lived in it, and he dies in it: his filthy garments of sin, in which he wrapped himself up in his life, are his prison garments, in which he shall lie wrapped up for ever. Secondly, in a hopeless state: "But the righteous hath hope in his death;" which plainly imports the hopelessness of the wicked in their death. Whereby is not meant, that no wicked man shall have any hope at all, when he is dying, but shall die in despair. No: sometimes it so indeed, but frequently it is otherwise; foolish virgins may, and often do, hope to the last breath. But the wicked has no solid hope: and as for the delusive hopes he

entertains himself with, death will root them up, and he shall for ever be irretrievably miserable.

SECONDLY, As to the death of a righteous man: "He hath hope in his death." This is ushered in with a but, importing a removal of these dreadful circumstances, with which the wicked man is attended, who "is driven away in his wickedness;" but the godly are not so. Not so, (1.) In the manner of their passing out of the world. The righteous is not driven away as chaff before the wind, but led away as a bride to the marriage chamber; carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom, Luke xvi. 22. (2.) Not so as to their state, when passing out of this life. The righteous man dies, (1.) Not in a sinful, but in holy state. He goes not away in his sin, but out of it. In his life he was putting off the old man, changing his prison garments, and now the remaining rags of them are removed, and he is adorned with the robes of glory. (2.) Not in a hopeless, but a hopeful state. He hath hope in his death: He has the grace of hope, and the well founded expectation of better things than ever he had in this world; and though the stream of his hope at death may run shallow, yet he has still as much of it, as makes him venture his eternal interest upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

DOCTRINE I.

The Wicked dying, are driven away in their wickedness, and in a hopeless state.

In speaking to this doctrine, (1.) I shall show how, and in what sense, the wicked are "driven away in their wickedness," at death. (2.) I shall discover the hoplessness of their state at death. And lastly, apply the whole.

1. How and in what sense the wicked are "driven away in their wickedness." In discoursing of this matter, I shall briefly inquire, (1.) What is meant by their being "driven away." (2.) Whence they shall be driven, and whither. (3.) In what respects they may be said, to be driven away in their wickedness. But, before I proceed, let me advertise you, that you are mistaken if you think that no persons are to be called wicked but they who are avowedly vicious and profane, as if the devil could dwell in none but those whose name is legion. In scripture account, all who are not righteous in the manner hereinafter explained, are reckoned wicked. And therefore the text divides the whole world into two sorts, the