by their own sufferings the remainder of their guilt. Against this doctrine did Luther raise his voice, and preach, according to the Scriptures, the sole sufficiency of the blood of Christ to cleanse from all sin. "From henceforth," agreeably to the prophecy in our text, it has been openly and unequivocally taught in the Protestant Church, that the righteous have no purgatory to undergo, but are blessed immediately upon their death, resting even from their labours, much more from their sufferings, and receiving, for Christ's sake, the gracious reward of their obedience. The doctrine was true from the first. It was, however, hidden by the antichristian Church of Rome, and men were taught to believe differently, until their minds were opened to the truth through the preaching of the reformers: thenceforth it has never been doubted amongst true Protestants, but that "the dead who die in the Lord" are blessed immediately upon their dissolution, without any purgatorial pains to retard their bliss.

But we have still to determine what is meant by dying in the Lord. The phrase in its most appropriate signification means, probably, the death of Christian martyrdom, and it alludes more especially to those who suffered death at the reformation" for the testimony of Jesus Christ." These holy martyrs are most properly said to have" died in the Lord," and with St.

Stephen to have fallen "asleep in Jesus." Their deaths are to be considered particularly blessed, in consideration of the vast recompense which He, for whom they died, would bestow upon them.

But the words are also capable of a much wider and farther extension. To die in the Lord is true of every one who dies a Christian death; who dies, not, like the beasts that perish, without a thought of what will be hereafter; not, like the presumptuous infidel, blaspheming his Redeemer, or trembling at his long-insulted name; not, like the hardened sinner, torn from his sins, yet not forsaking them, longing for life only to return to his unholy pursuits, and disrelishing the thoughts even of heaven itself, divested of the pleasures of sense, or the enjoyments of wealth and honour. Not so do they die, who die in the Lord; but with thoughts full of immortality, with minds sensible of the value of their souls, aware of the judgment to come, alive to a sense of their own unworthiness before a holy God, but relying upon his revealed mercy in Jesus Christ, that the sins, of which they have repented, will be forgiven and left behind them in this world, whilst their well-intended services, though full of imperfections, will be accepted for Christ's sake, and allowed to "follow them." But thus to die in the Lord, we must first live unto him. A Christian death is, properly speak

rate and rational festivity are not to be condemned; at the same time, let us again take care to make our joy chiefly of a religious kind ; and especially let those who consider the salvation of Christ an occasion of rejoicing, gladly meet, at the eucharistic feast of his holy Supper, to celebrate together his great love, to acknowledge their need of it, to shew their gratitude for it, and to dedicate themselves anew to Him, who came to "seek and to save them, when they were lost."

SERMON III.

THE BLESSEDNESS OF A CHRISTIAN DEATH.

REV. xiv. 13.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, 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.

THE subject of death is presented to our consideration this daya in the most awful and encouraging light; on the one hand the most awful, on the other the most encouraging. It is the death of the Son of God; it is the death of the Redeemer of mankind.

I. Let us view it in the first place, as it is a subject of the most awful importance.

It cannot be denied, that the blessings pronounced in sacred writ, are many of them quite contrary to the prevailing sentiments of men. Blessed are the poor in spirit: blessed are they that mourn: blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake: and here again, Blessed are the dead. Nothing so much evinces the excellence of Christianity, above all the boasted

rate and rational festivity are not to be condemned; at the same time, let us again take care to make our joy chiefly of a religious kind; and especially let those who consider the salvation of Christ an occasion of rejoicing, gladly meet, at the eucharistic feast of his holy Supper, to celebrate together his great love, to acknowledge their need of it, to shew their gratitude for it, and to dedicate themselves anew to Him, who came to "seek and to save them, when they were lost."