of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me, Psal. xxiii. 4.

It seems the primitive Christians had a design to paint to us this truth, by the emblematical figure of a giant-like man, wading through the sea with a staff in his hand, and a child upon his shoulder. For this giant is the emblem of a christian, who lifts up his hopes as high as heaven; the sea signifies the dangers of this world, and the terrors of death; the staff represents faith, that supports us in our passage through death to life, leaning upon which we worship the living God, that made heaven and earth: and the child is an image of Christ; therefore he that bears him is called Christopherus; that is to say, he that bears Christ.

If Cæsar could not endure to see his pilot tremble in a furious tempest at sea, because he was in the boat, how much less reason have we to be afraid, who carry in our hearts the great Emperor of the world, the hope and consolation of Israel! Cæsar was as much in danger to suffer shipwreck as his pilot; but our Lord Jesus Christ hath all the winds at his command. He can still the most troubled sea; and, by the most terrible death, he can bring us safe to the haven of eternal rest, to a most happy and glorious life!

When David addressed himself to fight with Goliah, he spoke thus to that dreadful Philistine, I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, 1 Sam. xvii. 45. But you, Christians, when your are to encounter with death, may say to it, not only, I come to thee in the name of him who hath legions of angels at his service, who commands all the armies of heaven; but I come to thee clothed with his armour, strengthened by his Holy Spirit, and assisted by him

self in person. For Jesus Christ, who hath overcome death for us, will also overcome it by us. We are the lively stones (1 Peter ii. 5.) which he hath chosen of his wonderful grace and mercy, to bring down and subdue, once more, this proud insulting enemy, which makes all that live in the world to tremble, and covers their faces with shame and confusion.

We have seen a Samson, breaking in pieces, with an admirable strength, the ropes with which he had been bound by the Philistines, and rending a young lion, in whose carcase, a few days after he found honey, which was most pleasant to the taste, Judges xiv, and xvi.—— With much more ease shall we, who are strengthened with the spirit of the Lord Jesus, of whom Samson was but a type, break in pieces all the cords and chains of death. We shall rend the body of this old lion, and when we shall have searched into his bowels with a serious and frequent meditation, we shall find there the sweetest and most ravishing comforts.

As when the prophet Elijah was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire, he let fall his mantle, with which Elisha divided the waters of Jordan, so that he went over on dry ground, 2 Kings ii; thus our Saviour Jesus Christ being ascended up above the clouds, to the throne of his glory, hath covered us with the robe of his righteousness, Isa. Ixi. 10, and hath strengthened us with his Holy Spirit, that we might pass in safety through the turbulent sea of this world, and that through death we might enter into life immortal.

And as the death of our Lord Jesus Christ separated his soul from his body, although his holy and innocent soul, his pure and immaculate body, remained always united personally to his divinity; in the same manner,

the believer's death divides for a time, his soul fom his body, but it can never separate it from the spirit of the Lord Jesus, which is the soul of our souls, such a divine and immortal flame, as can never be extinguished.

When the High-priest of the Jews put off his priestly ornaments, he at the same time put off his breast-plate, whereon the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were engraved, Exod. xxviii. 21. Now, not only our nanies are written in the Lamb's book of life. Rev. xiii and our picture imprinted upon the palms of his hands with the blood of the everlasting covenant, but we are as a seal upon his heart, Cant. viii. 6; so that we cannot be separated from him, any more than his heart can be taken from him. His love is stronger than death; the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

Whereas, then, Ruth the Moabitess, said unto Naomi her mother-in-law, Nought but death shall part thee and me, Ruth i 17; we can say unto our Lord and Saviour who is our father, brother, and husband. not only death shall never be able to separate us from thee, but it shall bring us nearer to thee, and cause us to rest in thy bosom, where we shall be for ever satisfied with the delights of thy paradise.

Therefore, believing souls, be no longer afraid of death, seeing you are invulnerable to all its darts, having been dipt all over in the river that springs up to eternal life. The spirit of the Lord Jesus that is in you, is the spirit of life, the seed of immortality, and the only fountain of glory and happiness. If the breath of the prophet Elijah raised a dead body to life, 1 Kings xvii. 22, how much more shall the spirit and breath of the Father and the Son be able to preserve your spiritual

life? Had death the power to stop the breath of the Almighty, to extinguish the rays that flow from his divine countenance, and to dry up the rivers of living wa ters that issue out of his throne, it might then be able to destroy you, or to make you miserable; but so long as Jesus Christ shall be the author and well-spring of light, life, glory, and immortality, and his Holy Spirit shall be victorious and triumphant over death and hell, you may assure yourselves of being everlastingly happy, and may sing with the Psalmist, I shall not die but live, and declare the works of the Lord, Psal. cxviii. 17.

You are not only certain of this everlasting glory and happiness; you are not only entered into possession of it by your faith and hope, but you begin already to enjoy it and its first fruits; for he that believeth on Jesus Christ is passed from death unto life, John v. 24. He that hath the Son of God, hath eternal life, 1 John v. 12. As the prophet Moses, when he was in the wilderness, not only saw the land of Canaan afar off, but tasted of its fruits ; thus we not only behold afar off, with the eye of faith, our celestial inheritance, but we taste at present, and relish some of its sacred delights. And as the fruits brought by the spies were of the same kind with those that the children of Israel fed upon in the promised land; in like manner, the fruits which we taste in this world, are to us no other than a wilderness, are fruits of the tree of life, with which we shall be fully satisfied in heaven.For the grace that God bestows upon us here below, by his Holy Spirit, is the beginning of that glory wherewith he shall crown us above. The same light that shines upon our souls on earth, shall enlighten them for ever in heaven: but whereas at present, we look upon it through a mist darkly, we shall then behold it clearly,

without any vail or obscurity. The same holiness that adorns at present our souls, shall still be their ornament and glory; only then it shall appear without spot or blemish. That same peace of conscience that is now the joy of our hearts, the delight of our senses, shall still remain with us; but then it shall not suffer the least inter ruption. In short, the same Jesus that is conceived in our hearts, and that is formed and grows up in us by degrees, shall appear in a perfect stature, which shall want no increase.

As it is with the sea; it runs into the rivers before the rivers can run into the sea: in like manner, God comes to us before we go to him; and heaven enters into our souls before we can enter into heaven.

Aged Simeon, waited patiently for death; but as soon as he had seen the Saviour of the world, and embraced him, he ran joyfully to meet it; he thought upon nothing but his final departure, and prayed unto God, with an holy earnestness, to receive him unto his glorious rest. What then ought to be the frame and disposition of thy soul, O Christian, since thou beholdest with the eyes of faith this blessed Redeemer, not wrapped up in swaddling-clothes, but clothed with light, and crowned with glory. He is not in thine arms, but in thine heart: thou hast not received him to part with him again presently, but to be united to him for ever, and to be incorporated into his mystical body. Since, therefore, death brings thee nearer to thy Redeemer, perfects this blessed union, and casts thee into the very fountain of life, instead of being seized with fear, and troubled at its approach, it is then thou shouldst rejoice and be transported with raptures of divine gladness. We should meet death with a cheerful countenance, or rather the Lord Jesus, the