Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

of thy great and precious promises, and that they are now as precious as ever. I covenanted with thee for eternal life, as the gift of thy free grace, through Jesus Christ my Lord. In his name I humbly claim it. To thine hand I commit this departing spirit. I am thine; save me. I have fled to thy Son's cross. I have renounced all dependance on any worthiness of my own. I come to thee as a sinner, believing in Christ for pardon and salvation. Let me have my lot among the followers of Jesus. I know in whom I have believed. I rejoice that I am in the hands of the Good Shepherd. I thank thee, that, after his long absence, thou art calling me home-to my glorious eternal home: but forsake not the world I am leaving, nor thy church from which I am removing. Having bought it with an inestimable price, still guard it, purify it, and unite it more and more, till all flesh shall see thy salvation. Let my few remaining moments on earth be spent for thy glory. Whatever this flesh may suffer, let my soul be rising to the general assembly and church of the first born, to the innumerable company of angels, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. Let faith be strong in the last hour. Let me ascend in the chariot of love and praise, and for ever sing the Song of Moses and the

1

Lamb! Even so, come Lord Jesus, come surely; come quickly! Amen.

Prayer for a dying Christian.

Thy mercy brought me into the world Thy mercy chose my parentage, education, and habitation; it trained me up, it kept m from a thousand dangers; it attempered my body and furnished my mind; it gave me teachers, books, and helps; yea, it gave me a Redeemer! and a promise of life, and the word of salvation! It gave me the influences of thy Spirit, which touched and turned my sinful heart! All my repenting and resolving thoughts! All the forgiveness of my manifold sins! All the sweet meditations of thy love! and the experience of thy good and pleasant service! The comfortable hours which I have had in secret thoughts, in public worship, on thy holy days, at thy holy table, among thy people, all these have been the dealings of thy love. All my deliverances from temptation and sin; from death and danger; all my recoveries from my too frequent falls, and pardon of my daily sins; all the use it hath pleased thee to make of me an unworthy wretch for the good of any, for soul or body; all these are the pledges of thy wondrous love! And shall I be afraid to come to such

1

a God? Hath mercy filled up all my life, and brought me now so near to my end, and shall I not trust it after so much trial? It is heaven that thou madest me for, and heaven that Christ did purchase for me; it is heaven thou promisedst if I would be thine, and it is heaven that I consented to take for my portion, and for which I did engage to forsake the world and O that I had more entirely done it: for I now find how little reason I have to repent of my covenant; it is heaven which thy Spirit of grace and merciful providences have all this while been preparing me for and shall I now be fearful and unr; willing to possess it? O, my God, do not these foretastes of love assure me that I shall be happy in thy love for ever! My hope in thy goodness, thy Son, and thy covenant, will never be disappointed; thou hast guided me by thy counsel, and thou wilt bring me to thy glory. Amen.

An Address to a dying Christian.

DEAR FRIEND,

Though nature teaches us to mourn with you under your present sufferings, yet faith permits us to rejoice with you in hope of your endless joys, which seem to be near at

hand. We must rejoice with you as the friends that love you, and therefore are partakers of your welfare; and we must rejoice with you as fellow-travellers and fellow-soldiers that are going along with you to the same felicity; and if we are left behind for a little while, yet we hope ere long to overtake you, and never to be separated from you more. This is the day for which Christ has been so long preparing you, this is the day which you thought on in all your prayers, and labours, and sufferings; your self-denial and mortification. Now you are going to see the things which you have believed, and to possess the things which you have sought and hoped for. O! now, what a mercy is it to have a Christ! That you are not to encounter an unconquered death, nor to go to God without a Mediator: but that death is by Christ disarmed of his sting; and that you may boldly resign your soul into the hands of your Redeemer, and commend it to him as a member of himself! Now you may better perceive than ever you have done, what God did for you when he opened your eyes, and humbled, and changed, and renewed your sinful heart; and how great a mercy it is to be a penitent believer; when he forgave all your sins and justified you by his grace, adopted you for his child, and an heir of life, and sealed you with his

spirit, and separated you to himself. How sad would your case now be, if you were yet in your sins; if your heart was now to soften, to humble, and to convert; and all your preparation for heaven to make! And all this with a pained body and a distracted mind, and in so short a time; with God, and eternity, and death before you! If you had all your past life to look back upon as consumed in sin! But what an unspeakable mercy is it, that you have been reconciled to that God that you are going to, and that the sins which I would now have been your horror, are all forgiven through the blood of Christ! That you can look back upon your time, since the day of your conversion, as spent in faithful devotedness to God, and in a believing preparation for an endless life; and in godly sincerity, notwithstanding many sinful imperfections; and though you have nothing of your own to justify you at the bar of God, and need a Saviour and a pardon even for your best duties, yet you must with thankfulness remember that grace which has begun eternal life within you, and prepared you for it.

You have had something to humble you and to shew you that you were a child of Adam; and you have had something for grace to contend with, and to conquer, and for Christ to pardon! Bless him through

« AnteriorContinuar »