Stop to Sin in its first Beginning, never fuffering Single Acts to grow up into Habits of Sin, nor any Sin to grow upon us, or get the Dominion over us. And by that Means we should make fure that None of our Sins fhould escape us Unrepented of: Which will give us the Unspeakable Comfort of keeping our Accounts Clear with God, and Ready for him, whenever he please to call us. And how foon he may Call for us, and with what little Warning, we cannot tell: But if we thus duly Difcharge our Debts, and Daily Dye unto Sin, we are Always Prepared and Ready for our Lord, at what Hour foever he fhall come.

Now if the Children of this World are Conftant and Careful in examining and adjusting Their Accounts, why should not We be as Careful for our Souls, as They are for their Bodies and Eftates? Why fhould not We be as much Concerned, and as Diligent for the True Riches, that Endure for Ever, as They are for the Uncertain Riches of this World, which muft Dye with them, or before them? And as They are Careful to keep all Strait and Even, fumming up at the Foot of every Page; If We would but be as Careful to take ourselves to account at the Close of every Day, (tho' it were but for a few Minutes,) Revolving the Actions (whilft they are fresh in our Memory,) of the Paft Day, confider

ing what Things we have left Undone which we ought to have Done, and what we have Done which we ought not to have Done, and humbly begging Pardon of God for whatever has been done Amifs, before we each Night lye down to Reft; and if there has been any great Miscarriage, commit That to a Faithful Regifter in our own Breaft, there to be kept for the Set Times of our more Solemn Repentance; This would turn to better Account at the Laft, and yield us more Satisfaction and Advantage, than all Their Thousands of Gold and Silver.

If we would all of us Live by these Few Neceffary Rules, we fhould Live Secure against the Dreadful Danger of Sudden Death. We should be fo well Prepared for it, that we should not need to Pray, as we do in our Litany, to be Delivered from it. For if we were at all Times well and truly Prepared, I fhould then think Sudden Death to be truly Defirable. But indeed, as our Cafe commonly is, fo much Pravity in our Will, so much Weakness in our Nature; so much Neglect of our Duty, and so much Coldness and Faintness, and Imperfection generally in our Services, and the Love of the World fo much Ruling in our Hearts; befides the Sins of Infirmity, and of Daily Incurfion and Surprize; the Beft of us may have Reafon enough to Pray, as we do, against Sudden Death, that our Good Lord would deliver us from it.

It

35.

It is our Saviour's Command to All, to keep themselves always in Readiness and WatchLuke xii. ful,—Let your Loins be girded about, and your Lights Burning; and Te yourselves like Men that wait for their Lord. But who is fufficient for This? Who can be sure always to keep himself up to fuch an Exactness of Care and Watchfulness, and hold himself at all Times fo ftrictly Waking and upon his Guard, as never to have any drowsy or flack Unguarded Minutes? We are told of the Ten Virgins in the Gospel, the Wife as well as the Unwife, that whilst the Bridegroom tarried, they ALL flumbred and flept. And even the Beft of them, the Wife Virgins, tho' they had kept themselves Prepared to meet the Bridegroom, having Oil in their Lamps, and their Lamps Burning, yet ftill even They had fomewhat to do: When the Alarm was given, even They wanted to Trim their Lamps. And even David and Hezekiah, though they were Both of them Good Men, and had the Teftimony of the Holy Ghoft, the One that he was a Man after Acts xiii. God's own Heart, and the Other, that he

22.

2 Kings

did that which was Right in the Sight of xviii. 3,6.the Lord, that he Clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his Commandments,-yet when Death was Pf. xxxix. drawing towards them, defired to be spar'd a little. Though we be Careful, as well as We can, to keep ourselves Habitually Pre

Ifa.

Xxxviii.

pared

pared for Death, yet may we be glad upon its near Approach, to have a Little Time to bethink ourselves, and to Prepare and Fortify ourselves for the Engagement. When we have our Laft Warning given us, the Laft Sound of the Trumpet, 'tis Time to Prepare ourselves for the Battel. There is a New and Frightful Scene ready to open upon us, that will require us to ftir up all the Powers and Faculties of our Souls. We are coming upon our Laft Tryal in this World, wherein our Refolution, and Spirit, and Patience will be try'd to the Utmost;

-Nunc animis opus eft, Nunc Pectore firmo ;

There will be occafion for all our Faith and Courage; We fhall have need to beftir ourselves, and to excite and quicken all our Chriftian Graces, (for all which there will be Work enough in our Last Conflict which is Now coming on,) and to Pray to God with all our Heart, and with all our Soul, that He would Now ftand by us in the Needful Time, when we are to pass through the Valley of the Shadow of Death; that he would be with us, and Support and Com"That he would look graciously

fort us;

upon us, and the more the Outward Man "decays, that he would Strengthen us fo "much the more continually with his "Grace and Holy Spirit in the Inward Man." -And This is a Part of what comes Now in the

II. Laft

II.

Laft Place to be confidered, A more Particular and Immediate Preparation for Death, when it is near at Hand, and thou beginneft to find it hovering over thee.

The Rules I have to offer upon this Occafion being calculated for the Time of Sickness, and the Hour of Death, may not perhaps be thought fo Needful and Seasonable Now, whilft, by the Bleffing of God, we are well and in Health. But when the Matter is better confidered, it will certainly ap pear, that Now is the Time of Learning fuch. Rules, which it is Then the Time of Practifing. The Soldier muft not have his Art to Learn, nor his Armour to put on, when the Fight is already begun; No more must we be to Learn how to encounter Death, when Death is already upon us, even at the Door. And Rules of Dying well, may come to be in Season with any One of us, and to be wanted by us, fooner than we think for. But because our Time Then is like to be Short, and our Strength but Small, and Long Rules would therefore be Unpracticable and Unferviceable to us at fuch a Time, I fhall only Offer a little Short Ghoftly Advice; as not defigning it for thofe that have their whole Work then to begin, Men that have been Strangers to God and Religion, Men that would never think of Death before, and are now all in Surprize and Confufion; but for

thofe

1