The Necessity and Reasonableness of Believing That Pious Separate Spirits Are with Christ

The subject suggests to my thoughts the necessity of “believing that the souls of the godly, when departed hence, shall be with Christ, and the reasonableness of such a faith. “We are elsewhere assured, that “we shall be with him, where he is;” arid to be with him can be no less than a state of communion, and a participation of happiness. To believe such a state of happiness for departed pious souls, must appear, upon consideration, to be both necessary and reasonable.

I. The necessity of believing that pious separate spirits are with Christ, appears by considering, that without this belief, we shall be uncertain concerning the design of life — we shall lose the most powerful motives to a holy life — we can neither know, estimate, nor improve our mercies, nor can we bear our sufferings with comfort.

1. We shall be uncertain concerning the design of life. It is allowed, that the right end of life is to please God. But I must desire to please God better than I do in this imperfect state, I must desire to please him perfectly. And our desires of our ultimate end must have no bounds. God has made the desire of our own happiness so necessary to the soul of man, that it cannot be separated from our desire to please him. Therefore, both in respect to God and to our own happiness, we must believe that he is the everlasting “rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” If we knew not whether God will turn our pleasing him to our loss, or to our having no gain by pleasing him, this would hinder our love to him, and our trust and joy in him; and consequently hinder the cheerfulness, sincerity, and constancy of our obedience. Had we no certainty what God will do wTith us, we must have some probability and hope before we can be entirely devoted to his service. How can a man pitch upon an uncertain end? If he waver so as to have no end, he can use no means; he lives not as a man, but as a brute. Or if he pitch upon a wrong end, he will but make work for repentance.

2. We shall lose the most powerful motives to a holy life. Indeed, goodness is desirable for itself; but the goodness of means is their fitness for the end. We have here abundance of hinderances, temptations, and difficulties, which must be overcome. Our natures are diseased, and greatly indisposed to the most necessary duties; and will they ever be discharged, if the necessary motives be not believed? Our duties to God and man may cost us our estates, liberties, and lives. The world is not so happy as commonly to know good men from bad, or to encourage piety and virtue, or to forbear .opposing them. And who will let go his present welfare without some hope of better as a reward? Men do not use to “serve God for naught,” or while they think it will be their loss to serve him. A life of sin will not be avoided for inferior motives. When lust and appetite incline men strongly and constantly to their respective objects, what shall sufficiently restrain them, except the motives from things eternal? If sin so overspread the earth, notwithstanding all the hopes and fears of a life to come, what would it do if there were no such hopes and fears?

3. We can neither know, estimate, nor improve our mercies. Grod gives us all the mercies of this life as helps to an immortal state of glory, and as earnests of it. Sensualists know not what a soul is, nor what soul-mercies are, and therefore know not the just value of all bodily mercies, but take up only with the carcass, shell, or shadow, instead of the life of their mercies. No wonder they are so unthankful for God’s mercies, when they know not the real excellence of them.

4. Nor can we bear our present sufferings with comfort, without the hope of living with Christ. “What should support and comfort me under my bodily languishings and pains, my weary hours, and daily experience of the vanity and vexation of all things under the sun, had I not a prospect of the comfortable end of all? 1, that have lived in the midst of great and precious mercies, have all my life had something to do to overcome the temptation of wishing that I had never been horn; and had never overcome it, hut by the belief of a blessed life hereafter. We should be strongly tempted, in our considerate moments, to murmur at our Creator as dealing worse by us than by the brutes, if we must have had all. those cares and griefs and fears — by the knowledge of what we want, and the prospect of death and future evils — which they are exempted from, and had not withal the hope of future felicity to support us. Seneca had no better argument to silence such murmurers than to tell them, “If this life have more evil than good, and you think God does you wrong, you may remedy yourselves by ending it when you will.” But that could not cure the repinings of nature, when weary of the miseries of life, and yet afraid of dying. No wonder that so many fancied that souls were punished in these bodies for something done in a preexi stent state. “0 how contemptible a thing is man,” says Seneca, “unless he lifts up himself above human things.” Therefore says Solomon, when he had tried all sensual enjoyments, “I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me; for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”

II. As for the reasonableness of believing that pious separate spirits are with Christ, I have often thought whether an implicit belief of it may not be better than searching into its nature, and trying what can be said against it I have known many godly women who nevei disputed the matter, but served God comfortably to a very old age, and who lived many years in such a cheerful readiness and desire for death as few studious men ever attain to. This no doubt was the divine reward of their unwavering confidence and trust in the promises through Christ. On .the contrary, as doubts and difficulties are apt to present themselves to an inquisitive mind, they must be answered; for if we reject them unanswered, we give them half the victory over us; and a faith that is not upheld by such evidence oi truth as reason can discern and justify, is often joined with much doubting, which men dare not confess, but do not therefore overcome; and the weakness of such a faith may tend to enfeeble all the graces and duties which should he strengthened by it. Who knows how soon a temptation from Satan, or infidels, or from our own dark hearts, may assault us, which will not be overcome without clear evidence? Yet many that try and reason and dispute most, have not the stronger faith. Indeed, there is a wide difference between that light which discovers the thing itself, and a mere artificial kind of knowledge, to form arguments and answer objections. Unlearned persons, who have little of the latter may have more of the former, even that teaching from God which reaches the heart as well as the understanding. And who does not find it necessary to pray hard for this divine teaching? When I can prove the truth of the word of God and of the life to come with the most convincing evidence of reason, I feel my need to cry daily to God to “increase my faith,” and to give me that light which may sanctify the soul and reach the end. Nevertheless, this effectual teaching ordinarily supposes that which is artificial. Unlearned Christians arc convinced, by good evidence, that God’s word is true and his rewards sure, though they cannot state that evidence, or conceive of it without some confusion. With respect to curious and needless inquiries beyond what is revealed, it is a believer’s wisdom implicitly to trust his soul to Christ, and to fear that vain, vexatious knowledge, which is selfish and savors of a distrust of God, and is that sin and fruit of sin which the learned world too little fears. That “God is the rewarder of them that diligently, seek him,” and that holy souls shall be in blessedness with Christ, I am convinced by the following concurrent evidences, on which my soul raises its hopes: The immortality of the soul; the belief of it naturally implanted in all men; the duty of all men to seek after future happiness; the difference between men and brutes, concerning the knowledge of God and futurity; the justice of God, as the governor of the world; divine revelation; God’s hearing and answering prayer; the ministration of angels; the temptations of Satan, and especially the sanctifying operations of the Spirit of God. 1. The soul of man is immortal; and therefore, if good, cannot be for ever in a bad condition. An immortal spirit is “a distinct, self-conscious, invisible being, endowed with natu< ral powers of never-ceasing action, understanding, and will, and which is neither annihilated nor destroyed by separation of parts.” Such is the soul of man. If in this flesh our spirits were not inactive and useless, we have no reason to think that they will be so hereafter, and that for ever. Though by the light of nature we may know the immortality of souls, yet without supernatural light we know not what manner of action they will have in their

separate state. It satisfies me, that Grod will not continue their noblest powers in vain; and how those powers shall be exercised is known to him; and this his word tells us more than nature. All things considered, there is no reason to fear that souls shall lose their activity, though they change their manner of action; and so it is naturally certain that they are immortal. And if holy souls are so far immortal, their holiness must prove their happy immortality. This the most just and holy God will certainly secure to those whom he makes holy.

2. The “belief of the soul’s immortality is naturally implanted in all men. Almost all pagan nations at this day,. as well as the Mohammedans, believe it. As for the cannibals and savages, whose understandings are least improved, they are rather ignorant of it than disbelieve it. Though some philosophers denied it, they were every way inconsiderable: though many others were doubtful, it was only a certainty which they professed to want, and not a probability. Most of the apostates from Christianity, besides those philosophers who have been its violent opposers, fully acknowledged it. Julian was so persuaded of it, that with a view to it he exhorted his priests and the rest of his subjects to great strictness of life, and to see that the Christians did not exceed them. Indeed, few of those that affect, like the Sadducees, to disbelieve it, are able to free themselves from the fears of future misery; but, with all their efforts, conscience still troubles them. And whence should all this be in man, and not in beasts, if man had no more cause for hopes and fears than they?

3. God has made it every man’s duty to seek after future happiness as the one thing needful, and therefore there must certainly be such a happiness for them that truly seek it. Some believe a state of future retribution, as Christians, Mohammedans, and most heathens. Others think it is uncertain, yet very probable. And to others it is also uncertain, though they rather think it untrue. Now all these ought to seek after it, and make it their chief care and labor; for natural reason requires every man to seek that which is best with the greatest diligence, and assures us that a probability or possibility of future everlasting happiness is better, and more worthy to be sought, than any thing attainable in this present life. As the will of man necessarily desires happiness, it must desire that most which is best, and which is known to be so. In this life there is nothing certain for an hour. It is certain that the longest life is short. It is certain that time and sensual pleasure, when past, are nothing, and no better than if they had never been. It is also certain, that they are dissatisfying while we possess them; for carnal pleasure is no sweeter to a man than to a beast, and to a beast is unattended with fear of death, or any misery after death; nor has the beast any labors, sufferings, or trials, in order to obtain a future happiness, or avoid a future misery Besides, it is self-evident, from the perfections of Grod, and from the nature of his works, that he does not make it man’s natural duty to care and labor most for that which is not, or to seek what is not to be attained. If so, the duty of man would result from deceit and falsehood; and Grod would govern the world by a lie, and not by power, wisdom, and love; and the better any man was, and the more he did his duty, he would be only the more deluded and miserable: and the more wicked and unbelieving any man was, the wiser and happier would he be. But all this is contrary ‘to the perfections and works of Grod; for he makes nothing in vain, nor can he lie: much less will he make holiness itself, and all that duty and work of life which reason obliges all men to perform, to be not only vain, but pernicious.

4. The difference between men and brutes with respect to the knowledge of Grod and futurity, shows that they differ as much in their hopes. Man knows that there is a God by his works; and that this God is our Lord, our ruler, and end, and that we naturally owe him all our love and obedience; and that it is not the manner, even of good men, ever to suffer their most faithful servants to be losers by their fidelity, or to set them upon laboring in vain. Man also knows that his own soul is immortal, and therefore must be well or ill for ever, and that this ought to be cared for. And why should God give man all this knowledge more than the brutes, if man is designed for no more happiness than brutes? Every wise man makes his work fit for its design; and will not God do so? If God was not perfectly wise, he would not be God. Therefore to deny man’s future hopes, is to deny God himself.

5. The justice of God as the governor of the world, infers a state of future retribution. If God did not govern man by laws, judgment, and executions, there would be no proper law of nature, and man would have no proper duty, nor be in sin or fault. But experience tells us that God morally governs the world; and his right to do so is unquestionable. If God was not the ruler of the world, the world would have no universal laws, for no man is the universal ruler; nor are kings, and other supreme powers, utterly lawless and ungoverned. And if God he a ruler, he is just; else he is not so good as he requires earthly princes to he. But how is God a righteous ruler, if he draws all men to him by deceit; if he ohliges them to seek and expect a reward which he will never give; if he makes man’s duty his misery; if he requires man to lahor in vain; if he suffer the wicked to persecute and kill his servants, without punishing the one and gloriously recompensing the other, in a future state?

6. The gospel revelation is the clear foundation of our faith and hope. God has not left us to the mere light of nature. “Christ has brought life and immortality to light.” One greater than an angel was sent from heaven to tell us what is there, and which is the way, and to secure our hopes. He has conquered death, and entered before us, as our captain and forerunner, into the everlasting habitations. He has “all pqwer in heaven and earth, and all judgment is committed to him.” All his word is full of promises of our future glory at the resurrection. Nor are we without assurance that the departing soul at death enters upon a state of joy and blessedness, as appears by the promise to the penitent thief on the cross; the parable of the rich man and Lazarus; Christ’s telling the Sadducees that God “is not the God of the dead, but of the living;” the translation of Enoch and Elijah, and the appearance of Moses and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration; our Lord’s arguing, that “they who kill the body are not able to kill the soul;” his “commending his spirit into his Father’s hands,” and its being in paradise, while his body was in the grave; his promising, ““Where I am, there shall also my servant be,” etc.; Stephen’s seeing heaven opened, and his praying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;” our being “come to the spirits of just men made perfect;” Paul’s desiring to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better, and to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord; the blessedness ot the dead who die in the Lord; the disobedient spirits being in prison, and the cities of Sodom and (xomorrah suffering the vengeance of eternal fire; also Christ’s saying, “When ye fail,” that is, leave this world, “ye shall be received into everlasting habitations.”

7. Grod’s hearing and answering prayer in this life, assures his servants that he is their true and faithful Saviour. How often have I cried to him when there appeared to be no help in second causes; and how frequently, suddenly, and mercifully has he delivered me! Such extraordinary changes, beyond my own and others’ expectations, while many plain-hearted, upright Christians, by fasting and prayer, sought Grod on my behalf, have abundantly convinced me of a special providence, and that Grod is indeed a hearer of prayer. I have also seen wonders done for others by prayer more than for myself: though I and others are too much like those who “cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses; but they forgot his works, and his wonders that he showed them.” And what were all those merciful answers, but the fruits of Christ’s power, faithfulness, and love, the fulfilling of his promises, and the earnest of the greater blessing of immortality, which the same promises entitle me to?

8. The ministration of angels is also a help to my belief of immortality with Christ. “They have charge over us; encamp round about us; hear us up in their hands; joy in the presence of God over our repentance; and are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation. As our angels, they always behold the face of our Father which is in heaven. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, all the holy angels shall come with him, and he shall send them forth, and they shall sever the wicked from among the just.” Not only of old did they appear to the faithful as messengers from God, but many mercies does God give to us by their ministry. And that they are now so friendly and helpful to us, and make up one society with us, greatly encourages us to hope that we are made for the same region, employment, and converse. They were once in a life of trial, though not on earth; and having overcome, they rejoice in our victory. The world above us is not uninhabited, nor beyond our capacity and hope; but we are come to the city of the living God, and to an innumerable company of angels.

9. Even Satan himself, by his temptations, has many ways cherished my hopes of immortality. There are few men, I think,- that observe what passes within them, but have had some experience of such inward temptations as show that the author of them is an invisible enemy, and assure us that there are diabolical spirits which seek man’s misery by tempting him to sin, and consequently that future happiness or misery must be expected by us all.

10. More especially the sanctifying operations of the Spirit of God are the earnest of heaven, and the sure prognostic of our immortal happiness. It is a change of grand importance to man, to be renewed in his mind, his will, and life. It repairs his depraved faculties. It causes man to live as man, who was degenerated to a life too much like the brutes. Men are slaves to sin till Christ makes them free. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, th&re is liberty.” If ‘Vthe love of God shed abroad in our hearts” be not our. excellence, health, and beauty, what is? “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” “Without Christ” and his Spirit, “we can do nothing.” Our dead notions and reason, though we see the truth, have not power to overcome temptations, nor raise up man’s soul to its original end, nor possess us with the love and joyful hope of future blessedness. It were better for us to have no souls, than have ouy souls devoid of the Spirit of God. Heaven is the design and end of this important change. What is our knowledge and faith, but to know and believe that heaven consists in the glory and love of God there manifested, and that it was purchased by Christ, and given by his covenant? What is our hope but “the hope of glory,” which we through the Spirit wait for? What is our love but a desire of communion with the blessed Grod, begun here, and perfected hereafter? What Christ teaches and commands, he works in us by his Spirit. He sends not his Spirit to make men craftier than others for this world, but “wiser to salvation,” and more hoty and heavenly. “The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” Heavenly mindedness is the special work of the Spirit. In producing this change, the Spirit overcomes all opposition from the world, the flesh, and the devil. Christ first overcame the world, and teaches and causes us to overcome it, even in its flatteries and its frowns. “Our faith is our victory.” “Whether this victory “be easy and honorable to the Spirit of Christ, let us appeal to our experience of the wickedness of the world, and of our own weakness and falls. None can do this work on the soul of man but God. Not the most learned and holy teachers, or the wisest and most affectionate parents, or the greatest princes. Evil angels neither can nor will do it. Q-ood angels do nothing towards it, but as obedient ministers of God. We cannot quicken, illuminate, or sanctify ourselves; and though we have some power, both conscience and experience testify that we have nothing but “what we have received.” Christ promised his Spirit to all true believers, to be in them as his advocate, agent, seal, and mark; and indeed the Spirit here, and heaven hereafter, are the chief of his promises. That this Spirit is given to all true believers, is evident by the effects of it. They have ends, affections, and lives different from the rest of mankind; they live upon the hope of a better life, and their heavenly interest overrules all the opposite interests of this world, in order to which they live under the conduct of divine authority; and to obey and please Grod is the great business of their lives. The men of the world discern this difference, and therefore hate and oppose them because they find themselves condemned by their heavenly temper and conversation. Believers are conscious of this difference, for they desire to be better, and to trust and love God more, and to have more of the heavenly life and comforts; and when their infirmities make them doubt of their own sincerity, they would not change their governor, rule, or hopes for all the world; and it is never so well and pleasant with them as when they can trust and love Grod most; and in their

worst and weakest condition, they would fain be perfect. Indeed, whatever real goodness is found among men, it is given by the same Spirit of Christ; but it is notorious that in heavenly mindedness and virtue, no part of the world is comparable to serious Christians. This spirit Christ also expressly promised, as the means and pledges, the first-fruits and earnest of the heavenly glory; and therefore it is a certain proof that we shall have such a glory. He that gives us such a spiritual charge, which in its nature and tendency is heavenly; he that sets our hopes and hearts on heaven, and turns the endeavors of our lives towards future blessedness, and promised this preparatory grace as the earnest of that felicity, may well be trusted to perform his word in our complete, eternal glory.

And now, 0 weak and fearful soul, why shouldest thou draw back, as if the matter was doubtful? Is not thy foundation firm? Is not the way of life, through the valley of death, made safe by him that conquered death? Art thou not yet delivered from the bondage of thy fears? Hast thou not long ago found in thee the motions and effectual operations of this Spirit? And is he not still residing and working in thee as the agent and witness of Christ? If not, whence are thy groanings after God, thy desires to be nearer to his glory, to know him and love him more? “Whence came all the pleasure thou hast had in his sacred truth and ways and service? “Who subdued for thee thy folly, pride, and vain desires? “Who made it thy choice to sit at the feet of Jesus, and hear his word as the better part, and count the honors and preferments of the world but dung and dross? “Who breathed in all those requests thou hast sent up to Grod? Overvalue not corrupt nature, it brings forth no such fruits as these. Remember what thou wast in the hour of temptation, how small a matter has drawn thee to sin. Forget not the days of thy youthful vanity. Overlook not the case of thy sinful neighbors, who in the midst of light still live in darkness, and hear not the loudest calls of God. Is it no work of Christ’s Spirit that has made thee to differ? Thou hast nothing to boast of, and much to be humbled and also to be thankful for. Thy holy desires are, alas, too weak, but they are holy. Thy love has been too cold; but it is the most holy Grod whom thou hast loved. Thy hopes have been too low; but thou hast hoped in Grod, and for his heavenly glory. Thy prayers have been too dull and interrupted; but thou hast prayed for holiness and heaven. Thy labors have been too slothful; but thou hast labored for God and Christ, and the good of mankind. Though thy motion was too weak and slow, it has been Godward, and therefore it is from God. 0 bless the Lord, not only for giving thee his word and sealing it with uncontrolled miracles, but also for frequently and remarkably fulfilling his promises in the answer of thy prayers, and in great deliverance of thyself and of many others; and that he has by regeneration been preparing thee for the light of glory. And wilt thou yet doubt and fear, against all this evidence, experience, and foretaste?

I think it no needless labor to confirm my soul in the full persuasion of the truth of its immortal nature, and of a future life of joy or misery, and of the certain truth of the Christian faith. I can no more doubt the being and perfections of God, than whether there be an earth or a sun. Christianity is only known by revelation, which is so attested externally to the world, internally to holy souls, as makes faith a ruling, victorious, and comfortable

D Thoughts 4 principle. But the soul’s immortality and future reward is known in some measure by the light of nature, and more perfectly by revelation. “When I consider the great unlikeness of men’s hearts and lives to such a belief as we all profess, I cannot but fear, that not only the ungodly, but most that truly hope for glory $ have a far weaker belief of the soul’s immortality, and the truth of the gospel, than they are apt to imagine. Can I be fully persuaded of the future rewards and punishments of souls, and that we shall be judged hereafter as we have lived here, without despising all the vanities of the world, and setting my heart with resolution and diligence to a holy, heavenly, fruitful life? Who could stand trifling, as most men do, at the door of eternity, that verily believed his immortal soul must be shortly there? Though such a one had no certainty of his own salvation, he would nevertheless search and try, watch and pray, and spare no care, cost, or labor, to make all sure. If a man once saw heaven and hell, would he not afterwards exceed the most resolute believer? I confess there is much weakness of faith in things unseen, even where there is sincerity. But where there is little diligence for the world to come, I must think there is but little belief of it, and that such persons are not aware how much they secretly doubt the truth of it. Most complain of the uncertainty of their title to salvation, and very little of their uncertainty whether there be a heaven and a hell. Whereas a hearty persuasion of the latter would do more to convince them of the former, than long examinations and many marks of trial. It would indeed confound faith and reason, if in the body we had as clear and lively apprehensions of heaven and hell as sight would occasion; nor is the soul fit, while in the body, to bear such a sight. But yet there is an overruling seriousness, to which the soul must be brought by a firm persuasion of future things. And he that is careful and serious for this world, and looks after a better only as a secondary object, must give me leave to think that he believes but as he lives, and that his doubting of a heaven and hell is greater than his belief. 0 then, for what should my soul more pray, than for a clearer and stronger faith? “I believe; Lord, help my unbelief. I have many thousand times groaned to thee under this burden of remaining darkness and unbelief: I have many thousand times thought of the evidences of Christianity, and of the necessity of a lively, powerful, active faith. I have cried to thee night and day, ‘Lord, increase my faith.’ I have written and spoken that to others, which might he most useful to myself, and render my faith more like sense. Yet, Lord, how dark is this world! “What a dungeon is flesh! How little clearer are my perceptions of things unseen, than they were long ago! Is no more growth of them to he expected? Does the soul no more increase in vigorous perception, when the body no more increases in the vigor of sensation? Must I sit down with so slow a measure, when I am almost there, where faith is changed for sight? 0 let not a soul that is driven from this world, and weary of vanity, and can think of little else but immortality, that seeks and cries both night and day for the heavenly light, and fain would have some foretaste of glory, and some more of the first-fruits of the promised joys — let not such a soul either long, or cry, or strive in vain. Punish not my former grieving of thy Spirit, by deserting a soul that cries for thy grace, so near its great and inconceivable change. Let me not languish “in vain desires, at the door of hope; nor pass with doubts and fears from this vale of misery. “Which should be the season of triumphant faith and hope and joy,

if not when I am entering on the world of joy? 0 thou that hast left us so many words of promise, ‘that our joy may be full,’ send, 0 send the Comforter; for without his heavenly beams, after a thousand thoughts and cares, it will still be night and winter with my soul.”

But I fear a distrust of God and my Redeemer has had too great a part in my desires after a more distinct knowledge than Grod ordinarily gives to souls in flesh. I know that I should implicitly, absolutely, and quietly commit my soul into my Redeemer’s hands; for a distrustful care of the soul, as well as the body, is our great sin and misery. Yet we must desire that our knowledge and belief may be as distinct as divine revelations are. We can love no further than we know; and the more we know of Grod and glory, the more we shall love, desire, and trust. If I may not be ambitious of too sensible and distinct foretastes of things unseen, yet I must desire and beg the most fervent love of them of which I am capable, that my soul may not pass with distrust and terror, but with suitable triumphant hopes, to everlasting pleasures. “0 Father of lights, who givest wisdom to them that ask, shut not up this sinful soul in darkness. Leave me not to grope in unsatisfied doubts at the door of celestial light. Deny me not now the lively exercise of faith, hope, and love, which are the stirrings of the new creature, the dawnings of eternal day, and the earnest of the promised inheritance.” Though, like Cicero, after reading Plato’s book on immortality, our doubts return, and our fear interrupts and weakens our desires and joys; yet I find that it is chiefly an irrational fear, occasioned by the darkness of the mind, the greatness of the change, the dreadful majesty of Grod, and man’s natural aversion to death, even when reason is fully satisfied that such fear is consistent with certain safety. Were I on the top of a castle or steeple, fastened by the strongest chains, or guarded “by the surest “battlements, I could not possibly look down without fear; and so it is with our prospect into the life to come. If therefore my soul sees undeniable evidence of immortality, and is able by irrefragable arguments to prove a future blessedness; if I am convinced that divine promises are true, and trust my soul and all my hope upon them; then neither my averseness to die, nor my irrational fear of entering upon eternity, can invalidate the reasons of my hope, or prove the unsoundness of my faith, but only the weakness of it. ““Why are ye fearful, 0 ye of little faith?” was Christ’s just reproof to his disciples. A timorous heart needs to be chided, by saying, “Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in Grod,” etc.

5G DYING THOUGHTS.