upon him! for he is a good God to his own; and he never takes any thing from "them but he gives them as good, and bet"ter, back again: you will get himfelf.

66

My dear, we have had many a sweet day together: we must part for a while; "but we will meet again, and shall have one "work in the praifes of God, in the praifes "of the Lamb. O how wonderful is it! "and let my foul wonder. O to get a dif covery of him eye to eye, it is fo much enlivening! It is life eternal to know the living God, and Fefus Christ whom he hath fent. I will not fay with Job, when it is morning, When will it be evening? No, "I dare not fay it; it will be but a little "while and I will get reft."

46

Then to his children he faid, "Now you "are fatherlefs: your father is to be taken from you; but feek God: and now I got. "6 you from the Lord, and I give you to "him. Now, I leave you upon him ye are no more mine.”

To his fon he faid, "My dear David, I "am lying here, man, finding how good God "is, and I would fain have you God's, and

acquaint with his ways, that when I am

dead, I may live in you, and you may "tell to the generation not born, how good "God is. Oman! if I had you a feeker "of God, I would think my felf happy in it.

My dear, feek God, feek him, and feek

early,

early, and he will be found of you: mind, "David, that I have commended God and his ways to you.'

To his eldest daughter, Margaret, he said, I must recommend to you my God and his ways: be an encouragement to your "mother: mind the many exhortations I have given you, and defpife them not, "and fave your own foul; and cry that, by a day of his power, he may bring you to found fincerity: you have loft a loving "father; it will be God only that can make him up feek the Lord, and be your mother's comfort."

C

Seeing his youngest child, he caufed bring her to him, and faid, "Mady, my dear, the Lord blefs you; and the God of your "father, and my father, blefs you: the God

that fed me all my life, the angel that re"deemed me from all evil, blefs you and the reft, and be your portion; that is a goodly heritage, better than if I had crowns. "and fceptres to leave you. My child, I it got you from the Lord, and I give you to him again. Here is a demonftration of "the reality of religion, that I a poor, weak, timorous man, as much afraid of death as any, am now enabled, by the power of ss grace, compofedly, and with joy, to look "death in the face, in its moft ghastly shape,

and hope, within a little, to have the vi*&tory. You may believe a man venturing

on

on eternity. I am not acting as a fool, " but I have weighed eternity this last night; "I have looked on death as ftript of all

things pleasant to nature; I have confider"ed the fpade and grave, and every circum "stance in it that is terrible to nature, and, un"der the view of all thefe, I found that in the "way of God, that gave fatisfaction, not only rational fatisfaction, but a heart engaging power attending it, that makes me rejoice. After that he spoke to his fervants, and faid, "As for you, my fervants, that have "been in my family, my dear friends, make

religion your main business, and mind that "above all things: I charge all my fervants "in my house, beware of graceless masters; "avoid it as what my turn to your deftruc"tion: feek to be with them that fear God."

He exhorted his brethren to diligence in the ministry. "It was the delight of my "heart, faid he, to preach the gofpel: I defired to decrease that the bridegroom might increafe; and to be nothing that he might be all. I repent I did not more for him. "O that I had the tongues of men and an gels to praife him!”

46

When defired to ly quiet and take fleep, he answered, "The folk I am going to fleep "not day nor night, but cry, Holy, holy,

holy. They that wait on the Lord fball "mount up as with eagles wings. Whercon "fhould a man beftow his lait breath, but

"in commending the Lord Jefus Chrift, God "clothed in our nature, dying for our fins?"

He caufed read one of Mr. Rutherford's: letters, and thereafter faid, "That is a' "book I would commend to you all: there " is more practical religion in that letter, than in a book of large volumes."

He exhorted fome minifters, that came to fee him, to faithfulnels. "As for the work "of the ministry, faid he, it was my deli

berate choice. Were my days as trouble"fome as they are like to be, I would ra"ther be a contemned minifter of God, than "the greatest prince on earth. I cannot "but commend the Lord Jefus as far as my "word will go: I muft proclaim it, he is "the beft mafter that ever I faw.

To his fon that was a child, he faid, "If "I had as many fons, as there are hairs on your head, I would bestow them allonGod.

6.6

To fome prefent, he faid, "O Sirs! I "dread mightily that a rational fort of re"ligion is coming in among us, I mean by it,

a religion that confifts in a bare attendance "on outward duties and ordinances, with out the power of godliness, and thence people fhall fall into a way of ferving God, "which is mere Deifm, having no relation "to Chrift Jefus, and the Spirit of God.

He expreffed his fears of a ftorm coming on the church of Scotland; but he faid, the day

Viz. That to Mr. John Mein, Letter 139.

day would break, and the Lord would arife: and he hoped the church would be made a wonder, and the Lord will fay, Lo,this people have I formed for myself. He can make a nation to be born at once. He cried often, with the fpoufe, in the Song, When shall the day break, and the shadows flee away? Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe, or a young hart, upon the mountains of Bether.

He faid, "Shall I forget Zion? Nay: "Let my right-hand forget her cunning, if I "prefer not Jerufalem to my chiefeft joy.— "O to have God returning to this church, "and his work going on in the world! If every drop of my blood, every bit of my body, every hair of my head, were all men, they should all go to the fire to have this going on. If I would fay, that I "would fpeak no more in the name of the "Lord, it would be like a fire within me. "I am calling you to fee a miracle, God is

melting me down into corruption and dust, "and yet he is keeping me in a calm. - I "could not believe that I would have born, "and born chearfully, this rod fo long: this "is a miracle, pain without pain; and this "is not a fancy of a man difordered in his "brain, but of one lying in full compofure. "O bleffed be God that ever I was born! I "have a father, and a mother, and ten bre"thren and fifters in heaven, and I fhall be "the eleventh. I fhall fhortly be at that glory