"I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him till that day." 2 Tim. i. 12.

NATURALLY, the fear of death is unavoidable, and, in itself, is not sinful. By infidelity, and vain reasonings, some have been able to preserve a kind of composure, and firmness of mind, even to the last moment; notwithstanding, it was but their ignorance that kept them easy; like opiates, which could not support them: Ps. lxxiii. 4, 5. They have no hope in their death. Believing does not exempt a man from dying; but though it cannot free him from the arms of death, it frees him from the sting of death; and supports him through death. And the believer is enabled to say, with a holy assurance, "I know whom I have believed." I am not deceived in this important matter; no; I doubt it no more than my existence; "I know," that I am standing on a firm foundation; I have entrusted my soul's salvation to the

care of him who purchased it for me; "and am persuaded," fully so, "that he is able," yea, and willing too, to "keep that," and all things else," which I have committed unto him: John x. 28, 29.

There can be no doubt about those being well kept whom Christ has the keeping of; and therefore, having committed the keeping of your soul to him, you may make yourself perfectly easy about it: Isa. xlv. 17. He will take good care of it, and preserve it, "against that day: Rom. viii. 38, 39. In "that day," the day of your death, you will be comforted, and supported, by that God whom you served in your life; and as you have always found his grace sufficient, while living, you may depend upon finding it sufficient when dying: 2 Cor. xii. 9. And, be assured of it, it is as easy for a Christian to die as to live; for, living or dying, he always finds "grace suffic ient;" but none to spare. He will keep it unto that day when soul and body shall be again reunited; and having been kept by the power of God, 1 Pet. i. 4, 5, it will be admitted into the presence and enjoyment of God. Now, you have many natural ties which bind you to the earth, and make the thought of parting unpleasant; but in death, you will have dying-grace; and your views and feelings may be altogether different.

CHAPTER IV.

PROMISES OF BLESSINGS IN THE OTHER WORLD.

OF DELIVERANCE FROM DEATH AND THE GRAVE.

"I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction." Hos. xiii. 14.

GOD made man, but sin unmade him; and brought forth death; and all who work for sin have death for their wages: Rom. vi. 23. Sin is the parent of Death; and every father may be considered an Adam to his offspring; conveying corruption and death in his generation. The man who dreads sin will never have cause to fear death; for the mighty conqueror shall be destroyed; "O death, I will be thy plagues." Jesus Christ has already plagued death; when he trampled upon him in his own territories ; and he will assuredly plague him again; for it is said “I will be thy plagues." Death will finally meet with a death-blow. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" 1 Cor. xv. 26. You nay, and will, fall by the hand of death, and be put in the prison-house of death; but you will assuredly be delivered; for the Lord hath declared, "I will redeem them." The price of your ransom has already been paid; Matt. xx. 28 : and your Redeemer has the keys of death hanging to his girdle: Rev. i. 18. Christ having freed you from sin, you shall, on account of his righteousness, be freed from death, which is the wages of sin. The blessed Saviour came into the world "to finish the transgression and make an end of sin :" Dan. ix. 24. And sin being ended, which is the cause of death, there will, of course, be an end of death. The sentence of destruction is already passed upon death and the grave; and will be faithfully executed: for, "There shall BE NO MORE DEATH, ǹeither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain: " Rev, xxi. 4.

"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Cor. xv. 55.

RECEIVE the word of thy redeeming Lord; rejoice in the comfort of it; Christ hath fulfilled it. He has brought in an everlasting righteousness, which he hath wrought out for thee, to clothe thy naked soul, and enable thee to stand before the throne of God, perfect and entire, lacking nothing: Dan. ix. 24. Man is no sooner born, than he is going to be buried. Death may shorten a believer's time, but cannot shorten his life. Our time shortens as it lengthens; and every day added is one taken away. Life itself is not worth calling living; neither is death, to a believer, worthy the name of dying: 2 Cor. iv. 16. The Captain of our salvation has, not only conquered death, but, euumerated it in the catalogue of our blessings: 1 Cor. iii. 22. "Death is yours," to deliver you from all the evils of sin, sorrow, temptation and pain; and yours to open the gate that admits you into life. What a glorious triumph will the redeemed have, when before their ravished eyes they shall see death and the grave completely destroyed! Then will they exultingly exclaim, "O death, where is thy sting?" Why, death, what has become of thy deadly weapon? where now is thy power to hurt us? Why, thou hast lost thy weapon! where is it? what has become of thy sting? we now defy thy power, and fear not thy weapon: Isa. xxv. 8. Ah! thou hast lost thy sting in the flesh of Christ; by his death he hath deprived thee of it, delivered us, and will destroy thee! And then, turning round to the grave, with a holy triumph, they will exclaim, "O grave, where is thy victory?" We were once thy prisoners; but what has become of thy prison doors? Where are all thy bolts, bars, and shackles, with which thou didst so long hold us? O grave! what has become of thy victory?

where is it?

Death and the grave have nothing in them, nor belonging to them, that can hurt the saints of God. The brightest days die into nights, but rise again into mornings. A Christian should always be content to live, and willing to die. Life and Death are near neighbors; and we should be neighborly toward both. Love life and fear not death.

"There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.' Job. iii. 17.

DISEASE, at the hour of death, may deprive a true christian of his reason, but can never rob him of his religion ; for whoever possesses the religion of Jesus, has that which will carry him well through life, and conduct him safely through death to life, beyond death: Isa. lvii. 2. The believer in Christ looks upon the grave, as he does upon his bed, the place where "the weary rest." Here the

saints are on pilgrimage; but there their journey ends: Ps. lxxiii. 24. Here the wicked persecute, hate, envy, and vex them; but "there the wicked cease from troubling" Job iii. 18. Job iii. 18. Here they are to toil and labor, and are frequently so tired and fatigued, that they scarcely know what to do with their poor bodies, nor how to lay them in order to have a little rest; but, "there the weary be at rest." Aching hearts, wearied limbs, and empty stomachs, will never be known there. The grave has power over the body, to silence, imprison, and consume it: Gen. iii. 19: but it has no such power over the soul; for though death breaks the lantern, he cannot put out the candle: Prov. xx. 27.

When death dissolves the union, that existed in life, between the soul and body, the body very naturally returns to the earth from whence it was taken; and the soul, or living immortal part which came from God, as naturally returns to God whence it came: Gen. ii. 7. "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it ; "" Eccl. xii. 7: and who has a place prepared for its reception. And there it will remain till the slumbering bodies are aroused from their dusty beds; then shall body and soul be reunited, and be ever with the Lord: 1 Thes. iv. 16, 17. dead who die " in the Lord" carry their happiness with them into another state; and, being freed from all sin and corruption, that happiness becomes greatly increased; nor can there be any thing to mar their bliss, for "they rest from their labors: " Rev. xiv. 13. All who have been subjects of Christ's kingdom on earth, will occupy those mansions prepared for them, after death: John xiv. 2, 3. It may be wrong to wish for death; but it must be right to wish for glory: Phil. i, 23,

The

To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Luke xxiii. 43. MATTHEW informs us, that both the thieves, who were crucified with the blessed JEsus, reviled him: Matt. xxvii. 44. But the grace of God found its way to the heart of one of those revilers; and becoming convinced of his own deplorable condition, both by nature and practice, and being fully satisfied that Jesus was the true and promised Messiah, he offered unto him this short prayer, "Lord, REMEMBER ME!" and immediately received this answer, "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Wherever Christ went from the cross, it is certain, the penitent thief went with him. Paradise signifies garden, and is used to denote happiness; so that, it is evident, the blessed JESUS and the believing thief went direct from the cross to a state of happiness. And the Scriptures give us plainly to understand, that, that state was an intermediate state; that is to say, the "paradise" Christ spoke of, when he said, "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise," was not the state or place where he now is; nor the final abode of the redeemed. Christ is now seated on "the throne of his Father:" Rev. iii. 21: and, it is certain, he did not go there on the day in which he said to the thief, "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise ; for three days afterward, he declares himself, "I am not yet ascended to my Father: " John xx. 17. If then, Christ went to paradise, and that paradise, as is evident, is not where he now is, it must be where the departed spirits all go on leaving the body; and where they will remain till the resurrection of the dead bodies. Peter assures us, that, after Christ was put to death in the flesh, he went and preached to the "spirits in prison:" and tells us plainly what spirits they were. See 1 Pet. iii.

18, 19, 20 and iv. 6. And admitting, that the two thieves were in one place, (if that term might be used) it is no proof that both were in happiness. It was one being "WITH" Christ that made it paradise to him ; i. e. united to him by faith as the branch is to the vine, partaking of the same nature. Even in this state, two men may be in one house, one an unbeliever and the other a true believer, the former is like the troubled sea: Isa. lvii. 20, 21; and the latter has great peace: Ps. cxix, 165. We need no greater paradise than Christ affords