righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him, and made no account of his labours. When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his salvation, so far beyond all that they looked for. And they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit, shall say within themselves, This was he whom we had sometimes in derision, and a proverb of reproach. We fools accounted his life madness; and his end to be without honour. How is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints!" And if these were the hopes of the holy fathers and righteous men before the coming of our Saviour, and before he was glorified; how much more ought death now to be contemplated by his faithful followers as the gate of refreshment and repose; since he hath now evidently completed the work of our redemption, and is ascended up into heaven, and is gone to prepare a place for them that love him, according to that

i Wisdom v. 1—5.

plain declaration of his unerring will, that "where he is, even there also shall his servants be!" Such was the prospect of death, entertained by the holy Simeon, when in delight at beholding the promised Saviour of the world, he "took him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation"." Such was the vision of the beloved John, when there was vouchsafed to him a sight of those blessed souls, who had" kept the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus: and he heard a voice from heaven saying unto him, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them". And such had been the gracious promise of the Redeemer of the world himself, when announcing the glad tidings of punishment remitted and happiness extended to all those, who come unto God by him, " Verily, verily," he declared, "I say unto you,

* John xii. 26. Luke ii. 28, 29, 30. xiv. 12, 13.

66

m Rev.

He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life"." Knowing these things, as revealed in the scriptures of truth," the righteous," when he contemplates death as the passport to a future life, feels not those apprehensions and alarms and terrors, which harrow up the heart of the wicked: nay rather is he "filled by the God of hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost, with all joy and peace in believing," that when he❝ departs hence, he shall be with Christ" and amid the tumult and miseries of this sinful world, derives from the contemplation a delightful foretaste of that uninterrupted "rest," which is prepared " for the people of God."

Seeing then, my brethren, that death must come to all; and that by some he is surveyed with fear, and by others with composure; that the carnal and worldly man shrinks from him with terror, whilst

n John v. 24. Heb. iv. 9.

• Rom. xv. 13.

P Phil. i. 23.

"the righteous" and spiritually minded is prepared to welcome him when he comes: what have we to do, but to 66 pass the time of our sojourning here" in preparing for our departure; and to endeavour to live the life, that we may "die the death, of the righteous," and that "our latter end may be like his?" What have we to do, but to strive all that lieth in us, to love God and to keep his commandments; to trust in the atonement and satisfaction of his only begotten Son; to be guided by the gracious influence of his Holy Spirit? So may we look forward, during our earthly pilgrimage, with comfort and joy to that solemn hour, which shall transport us from the visible to the invisible world: and so when the time of our departure comes, may we depart in peace, and rest in hope, and rise in glory; through the merits and mediation of Christ Jesus, our Lord; to whom in the unity of the Father and the eternal Spirit, be glory dominion and power for ever and ever!