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variety of circumstances, give up the ghost, and cease to be numbered with the living. However limited, then, the time of their existence in this world, if the greatest part of their days are finished, and they on the borders of eternity, this with propriety may be said of them, Their departure is at hand.

3. This, then, is evidently the case of those who have past the age of men, and yet are continued among the living. The departure of such is most clearly at hand. With them it is the eleventh hour of the day. They have survived the morning and meridian of life, and their sun, like that in the western sky declining behind the hills, is just ready to set. The last sand in their glass is running; the curtain of time closing; and eternity, immense, and boundless, soon, very soon, to open to their view. They feel the decays of nature, and may know their dissolution draweth nigh. But a step divides between them and the world of Spirits. Their next remove is into the unseen state.

The departure of other people may be at hand, and they not know it. They may fancy they shall live many years, and hope to rejoice in them all. But aged persons may know, both from their own observation and the word of God, that their day is over, and the night of death at hand, which will for ever separate them from all transitory things. Yet if they can say with sincerity, they are now ready to be offered, they are happy.

Though, in one view they are to be pitied, in another their situation is more to be envied, than that of any other people on this side heaven. They are to be pitied, considering the burdens and sorrows, the troubles and calamities, which attend their declining days: but otherwise their condition is blessed indeed.

They have almost finished a weary pilgrimage on earth; they have crossed the rocks and mountains, precipices and miry places which attend the journey of life, and are soon to enter upon the wished-for rest, which remains for the people of God.

The situation of such is similar to that of the mariners, who have been a voyage to a distant country, and are returning home. The voyage hath been dangerous, the sea boisterous,

and their lives eminently exposed. They have been tossed from billow to billow in jeopardy, from hidden shoals and towering waves: but finally the much desired port heaves in sight-they enter the harbour with a propitious gale, and brush the azure deep. The distance between them and the shore continually decreases; and now nothing remains but to furl the sails, drop anchor, and leap to the shore of the long, long wished-for peaceful haven.

II. Proceed we now to show what is implied in readiness for death.

And in general it implies the same, as a readiness for heaven, or the enjoyment of that glorious world.

Here I am sensible, the question will arise, wherein consists a readiness for heaven?

It is most clearly not true, that mankind, as they are in themselves, are ready to die, by being qualified for heaven. A change must therefore take place in them, whereby they specifically differ from the rest of the world, that thereby they may be ready to die, by being prepared for heaven.

1. With respect to a right and title to heaven.

That a person may enter, and take possession of an earthly inheritance, it is necessary he should have a good title. Unless his title is good, he has no right to enter and improve as his own. Neither, unless persons have a good title to heaven, are they prepared to die, being as yet disqualified for that world. But how a title to heaven is obtained, is a great question.

This is our answer.

1. Not by the merit of persons' own doings, or by their obedience to the perfect law.

For, let it be considered, they are under a law, which requires sinless perfection, on pain of eternal death. This law they have broken, and thus failed of that sinless obedience which it requires; consequently, they have fallen under its awful curse. If, therefore, they have merited any thing, it is hell, by their disobedience.

For them now to go to the law to get life, and to imagine by their own obedience to its demands, to reverse the sentence of condemnation, is folly in the extreme. As well may they think to countermand the laws of nature, and stop the sun in its orbit, as to escape hell, and attain heaven in this way. This is to join the old Pharisees in principles, and is reprobated by the gospel of Christ. Such a system, if true, would overset the whole of Christianity. For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Let every such legalist hear those words of our apostle, and tremble, For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse: For it is written, Cursed is every one, that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them. But,

2. A title to heaven is obtained by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the great medium of all friendly intercourse between heaven and earth. It is through him only, that God can extend his mercy to the guilty; and it is through faith in his name, that they may be acquitted from guilt and have a sure title to the heavenly inheritance. He is of infinite consequence in the grand affair of man's salvation. Set aside his righteousness and atonement, and our case would be hopeless and desperate.

But, glory to God in the highest, what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God hath sent his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sacrifice for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. Christ hath undertaken the work of our redemption; he has come into the world, obeyed the law, and died to make atonement for sin, that God might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Faith in Christ, is the required condition of an interest in the atonement, a compliance with the covenant of grace, and secures a title to heaven. All boasting is excluded, and the crown placed upon the head of the Redeemer. Look through the Gospel, and you will find that faith in the Mediator, is ever considered as the grand essential requisite to a title to heaven. It is that exercise of heart, without which we are condemned, and the wrath of God abides upon us. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; and he that believeth not shall be damned. He that believeth is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. There

fore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a scheme for sinners to obtain salvation, honourable to God, and suited to their condition. Mercy and truth may meet together, righteousness and peace embrace each other; God may be glorified, the law magnified, and the sinner pardoned and saved.

This is a device worthy of a God, and merits the admiration and wonder of the whole intelligent creation.

2. They must differ from the rest of mankind by having their hearts suited to the great good there enjoyed, and so to relish the bliss and happiness of that world.

The felicity of heaven is not merely negative, but it is positive; such as is suited only to persons of a distinguished, particular, moral character. In heaven, there is not only no evil endured, but a good possessed, of invaluable worth. This good is of a peculiar nature and kind.

To settle the point then, when persons are prepared to die, by being prepared for heaven, we must consider the nature of the good there enjoyed, and so the nature of the happiness of that world.

In this world, men have different tastes, appetites, and propensities; hence, they steer their courses differently, seeking happiness in different objects. Riches are the idol of many. Worldly honour dazzles the eyes of not a few. Women and wine are in the highest estimation by multitudes. Some prefer a tavern to any home, where the juice of the grape and intoxicating liquors are plenty, and all is noise and tumult. Some are delighted with music and dancing, and some with chambering and wantonness. In various ways men seek for happiness. But, in heaven, there is neither silver nor gold; no carnal mirth, or any sinful gratifications. That is a world sacred to virtue, purity, and holiness. God is the good there enjoyed, and from thence results its chief felicity. Were the inhabitants of Paradise deprived of enjoying God, their laughter would be turned into mourning, and their joy into heaviness. Every harp would be unstrung, and all the songs of Zion cease.

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But know ye, that God is infinitely holy, and therefore the good there enjoyed is of an holy nature. He declares himself to be holy. The angels pronounce him such. His moral government bears witness to that truth. The law requires holiness, and the great design of the gospel is to recover men to such a state, and so to a conformity to the moral image of God. As therefore God is the chief good of heaven, and as he is an holy God, so to be prepared to die, is to have an holy temper of heart, prepared to enjoy him, and to be happy in that enjoyment.

Without such a disposition, it is absurd to suppose that he can be enjoyed as the portion of the soul. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? Destitute of such a temper, it is in the nature of things, impossible for persons to find contentment in God. To this end, they must be conformed to him in holiness. Accordingly, it is represented, as being the design of Christ, in coming into the world and laying down his life, to redeem his people from all iniquity, and purify them unto himself, a peculiar people zealous of good works.

Analogous to what hath now been said,

3. That persons may be ready to die, their minds must be formed and suited to the society, business, and employment of the heavenly world.

The beings with whom they are to associate in that world, are the elect angels, and saints made perfect in holiness. The moral character of the heavenly inhabitants, is one and the same. They are perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment. And as their moral character is the same, so it accords to that of God himself. He is an holy being; and as they are conformed to him, so they are holy. To be prepared to die, is to have a mind formed for the society of such beings. And it is also to have a taste suited to the business and employment of that world.

In that blessed region, there is room for the most vigorous exertion; every inhabitant hath business assigned him, which will demand all his attention, through the whole of his endless existence. And such will it be, as can only delight

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