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and settled: he fears the awful separation of his soul and body, and the pains which precede or accompany it: he fears those more dreadful pains, which are to be inflicted in another world upon such as have passed through this in a state of bondage to sin and Satan, to worldly business and worldly pleasures; and "have not known God, nor obeyed the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ," nor followed the gracious guidance of the Holy Spirit, who would have "mortified the works of the flesh and their earthly members, and lifted up their souls to high and heavenly things,"

But such apprehensions and fears as these, congenial as they are to the human heart in its sinful state, are subdued in proportion as righteousness gets possession of it, and engages it in the service of God and of Christ. "To be carnally-minded is death";" it is the sure road to everlasting misery, the second death of a future world; and it is also the occasion of those pangs and agonies, which embitter the

b Rom. viii. 6.

ness and

prospect of death in this:-but "to be spiritually-minded is life and peace;" whilst it conducts the humble Christian to that future state of happiness, which is emphatically described in holy writ under the appellation of "life," it fills him here with that "6 peace of God which passeth all understanding," with that “ righteouspeace and joy in the Holy Ghost,' which enable him to triumph over the apprehensions of the natural man; and to contemplate death, not as the termination but as the beginning of life; not as an object of terror, but as a source of comfort; not as an evil, but as a remedy for all evil; not as an enemy, but as a friend; not as a cruel tyrant, exercising his power in the infliction of pangs and torments, but as a kind and merciful guide, leading him from mortality to immortality, from sorrow and pain to joy and pleasure, from the tumult and miseries of this sinful world to "the haven" of quiet and felicity, "where he would be." To him death hath lost his sting; who hath been enabled, through faith in Christ and by the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit of God, to

become free from "sin," which is "the sting of death;" and to be "steadfast and unmoveable" in love and obedience unto Christ, always abounding in the work," and reposing in the mercy," of the Lord."

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This is the righteous" man, the faithful worshipper of the true God, who follows after personal righteousness in obedience to the commandments of God, and as the appointed pathway to heaven; but trusteth at the same time to the imputed righteousness of Christ to secure him an entrance there, and to make atonement for his manifold imperfections, and to reconcile him to almighty God; this is he, whose "death" we may reasonably wish “ to die;" and with respect to whom we ought to study and pray, that "our latter end may be like his !"

A reference to the particulars, which make death an object of apprehension and terror to the worldly man, may lead us to

c1 Cor. xv. 56.

perceive why" the death of the righteous" is desirable; inasmuch as it will appear, that those causes and motives for apprehension do not exist with him, who is devoted to the service of God.

The first cause of anxiety to the worldly man at the prospect of death is, that it will separate him from all those things, which his heart holds dear. Such is not the case with the righteous," "the spiritually minded," the servant of God and of Christ. To him indeed this world is not without its enjoyments: it was not meant to be so. Almighty God, when he sent us into a world, abounding with many things, "pleasant to the sense," as well as necessary to our existence, never intended that we should pass through it without being delighted with his gifts. And from those sources of pleasure, which are spread around him, of pure and innocent pleasure, doubtless the religious man derives as much gratification as he who is devoted to the world. But herein consists the difference; that whilst the worldly man looks on the things, which he beholds about

him, as the principal sources of his pleasure, with the religious man they are only secondary objects. "He desireth a better country, that is an heavenly ":" from the midst of the perishable things, that surround him, he looks forward to "an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away ":" he "sets his affection on things above;" there "his treasure is; and there his heart is also." To one, who is thus minded, death appears, not terrible, as putting an end to his enjoyments; but desirable, as the avenue and introduction to those, which he esteems of the highest price. Is he to quit the honours and dignities of this world? But it is to succeed to "a throne," and " a kingdom," and "a crown of glory, which fadeth not away.”-Is he to part from this world's riches? But it is to inherit that heavenly treasure, "which neither moth nor rust can corrupt, nor can thieves break through and steal it;" that "pearl of great price, more precious than rubies, and richer than gold and fine gold;" that

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