neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

A person, whose life is full of good works, whose heart is devoted to God, whose faith and hope are pure and sincere, will never be surprised by death.

Matt. xxvii. 50. Jesus Christ yielded up the ghost. And so his death became a voluntary sacrifice. Let mine be so, O blessed Jesus! Let thy death sanctify me; and let my spirit be received with thine!

Rom. v. 1. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Give me, O Lord, that desire and earnest longing which I ought to have, for the happy moment which is to release me from this state of banishment, and translate me to a better place; and grant that I may never lose the sight of that important moment.

Let me, O God, have my lot and portion with thy saints.

When we come to die, the great enemy of our souls will then attack us with all his stratagems. It is good, therefore, to be prepared.

If he attacks your faith, say with St. Paul, "I know whom I have believed; and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

I believe in God the Father, who hath made me and all the world.

I believe in God the Son, who hath redeemed me and all mankind.

I believe in God the Holy Ghost, who hath sanctified me and all the elect people of God.

I give thee hearty thanks, O Heavenly Father, that thou hast vouchsafed to call me to the knowledge of thy grace and faith in thee. Confirm this faith in me evermore;-grant that I may die in this faith, and in the peace and communion of thy Holy Church; and that I may be united to Jesus, the Head of this Church, and to all his members, by a love that shall never end. Amen.

John iii. 15. Whosoever believeth in Jesus Christ shall not perish, but have eternal life.

I believe ;-Lord, increase my faith, and let it be unto thy servant according to this word.

Luke xxiii. 43. This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.

O blessed Jesus! support my spirit when I come to die, with this comfortable promise "This day shalt thou be in Paradise."

We indeed suffer justly the sentence of death. O thou, who didst nothing amiss, and yet didst suffer for me; "remember me, O Lord, now that thou art in thy kingdom."

What terror, what affliction, can equal that of a Christian, who has never thought of weaning his heart from the world till he comes to die; who can find nothing in his life, but what must render him unworthy of mercy! But the greatest of all miseries would be to despair of mercy, and not to have recourse to it.

Need a person who has received the sentence of death, be persuaded to prepare for death? And is not this our case?

Consider death, as appointed by God, as a necessary penance, as the completion of the Christian sacrifice, as a passage to a better life, as the deliverance of a prisoner, as the recalling of an exile from banishment,as the end of all miseries :-And then you will strip it of much of that terror which it has when considered as an accident to nature only.

Luke xii. 36. And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord.

He who waits for his master will always endeavour to be in that state in which he desires to be found.

A Christian should not look upon death with anxiety, but with the satisfaction of a good servant, who waits with impatience for his master's return, in hopes of being approved of.

Luke xii. 40. Be ye ready also, for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

And are not so many sudden deaths sufficient to convince us of the folly of assuring ourselves of one day? Let every one of us, therefore, count himself of the num

ber of those that are to be surprised by death; this will make us watchful.

Luke xii. 43. Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing; that is, doing his duty.

And then, miserable will he be whom death surpriseth either doing evil, or doing nothing, or doing that which God does not require of him. Can one imagine that the generality of Christians believe this truth? Suffer me not, O God, to fall into a forgetfulness of it.

We complain (saith Seneca) of the shortness of life: he answers, "Vita, si scias uti, longa est." Life is long, if you know how to use it. But then it is Christianity only can teach us how to use our life; namely, “in working out our own salvation :" and we are sure it is long enough for that, because God has appointed it for that very end.

As Christianity alone can take from us the love of life, so it is this alone that can free us from the fear of death.

Eternity adds an infinite weight to all our actions, whether good or bad.

If we desire that our death should, like that of Jesus Christ, be a sacrifice of love and obedience, we must take care to make our life so too.

Acts ix. 36. This woman was full of good works and alms-deeds; and she died.

Happy that soul which death finds rich, not in gold, furniture, learning, reputation, or barren purposes and desires, but in good works.

Acts vii. 59. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

O my God, enable me to live to thee; that when the hour of death shall come, I may thus, with confidence, offer up my spirit to Jesus Christ.

Rev. iii. 3.

come upon thee.

Thou shalt not know what hour I will

Is it not then the highest presumption to persuade ourselves that we have always time sufficient, when Je

sus Christ himself declares that we have not one moment certain ?

Death being the effect and punishment of sin, we ought to expect it with great submission, since it honours God by expiating of sin, and saves the man by punishing the sinner.

It is purely for want of faith that we tremble at the approach of our Deliverer; and which is to destroy in us the reign of sin, and instate us in that of glory..

Let us resign up ourselves to God, as to the manner in which it shall please him to determine our lives, praying only that it may be to his glory and our salvation. What does it signify how this house of clay perisheth, which hinders the perfect renovation of the soul, and the sight of God?

2 Cor. v. 1. For we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

We know, we believe, we promise ourselves this, but we think too seldom of it, and we still make less use of what we know, in order to wean our hearts from this world.

Would we look upon our bodies as houses of clay just ready to fall, we should think of that eternal house, we should sigh after our native country, and be willing to leave a place of misery and banishment.

Remember, that death is the punishment of sin; we ought, therefore, to resign ourselves up to it in a Christian manner, looking upon ourselves as condemned to it in Adam.

He who has lived and looked on earth, as in a place of banishment, will look upon death as a gracious deliverance from it.

Consider well, that life is given and continued for no other end, but to glorify God in working out our own salvation.

A man goes with confidence to meet the bridegroom, when he has been faithful to him, and believes him to be his friend.

Heb. i. 15. And deliver them who through fear of death were all their life long subject to bondage.

Bondage is the sentence of rebellious slaves;—we were condemned to it in Adam; and being under this sentence of death and the Divine Justice, we ought to expect it with submission, and be always prepared for it. This is the only way to be secure, and from fearing death when it comes.

Gather us, O God, to the number of thine elect, at what time and in what manner thou pleasest ;-only let us be without reproach, and blameless;-let faith, and love, and peace, accompany our last periods.

We look upon a body without a soul with horror. We can see a body with a soul, which is like to die eternally, without concern.

Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 1 thank God, I am delivered

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Grant, O Lord, that though my outward man decay daily, yet that my inward man may grow and increase in piety and virtue unto the day of my death.

He that hath lived best will stand in need of mercy at the hour of death, and in the day of judgment;-and he that hath lived the worst, has not sinned beyond the efficacy of the blood of Christ, provided his repentance be sincere.

My God, let thy glory be magnified by saving a sinner, by redeeming a captive slave, by enlightening a heart overwhelmed in darkness, by changing a wicked heart, by pardoning innumerable transgressions, iniquities, and sins.

If my hopes were placed upon any thing but the infinite mercies of God, in Jesus Christ, which can never fail, I should utterly despair.

Acts ii. 21.

Whosoever shall call on the name of

the Lord, shall be saved.

These, my God, are thine own words;-give me leave to trust in them, to depend on them, both now and at the hour of death.