case?

Here is no opportunity for enthusiasm or mistake from animal sympathy or excitement, nor any external sources of support or happiness whatever, nor any anodyne that can overcome the present sense of pain, or give buoyancy to the spirits, or provide material for the dreams of a youthful imagination, or set it in play in the presence of the King of Terrors. To the blind eye and gloomy reasoning sense of unbelief, here is nothing but pain, weakness, darkness, relinquishment of all the blessings of life, and a blank, drear vacancy in prospect. And yet, there is a mysterious, unseen, supernatural presence and power, a power of life and joy so upspringing, deep, and inextinguishable, so certain, sensible, and ecstatic, that this dying man, convulsed with pain, can say, If I were never to enjoy more than this, it were well worth all the torments that men and devils could invent, worth coming through even a hell, to such transcendent joys as these! And this is CHRIST! This it is to have a SAVIOUR! This is that Saviour's omnipotence and mercy! Gloomy, self-torturing, unhappy infidel! what hast thou to say to this!

Our second instance is the case of Dr. Payson. He once said, in his last illness: "I have suffered twenty times,-yes, to speak within bounds,— twenty times as much as I could in being burnt at the stake, while my joy in God so abounded, as to render my sufferings not only tolerable, but welcome. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed. God is my all in all. While he is present with me, no event can in the least diminish

my happiness; and were the whole world at my feet, trying to minister to my comfort, they could not add one drop to the cup." On another occasion he said, "Death comes every night and stands at my bedside in the form of terrible convulsions, every one of which threatens to separate the soul from the body. These continue to grow worse and worse, until every bone is almost dislocated with pain, leaving me with the certainty that I shall have it all to endure again the next night. Yet, while my body is thus tortured, the soul is perfectly happy, perfectly happy and peaceful, more happy than I can possibly express to you. I lie here, and feel these convulsions extending higher and higher, but my soul is filled with joy unspeakable. I seem to swim in a flood of glory, which God pours down upon me."

This is wonderful. And so the And so the dying Evarts exclaimed, borne down, or rather I should say, borne up by such a weight of glory. "Wonderful! wonderful!" But here again there is nothing external, nothing visible, no earthly thing conceivable, as a source of such joy amidst suffering. These are the consolations of Christ, and in the presence of these infidelity stands stunned, aghast, and silent. They are not always granted so abundantly, in such triumphant, overpowering measure, even to the Lord's most faithful servants; but if need be, they are, But even a little measure of them, a glimpse of the Saviour's countenance, and an assurance of his mercy, is enough to deprive death of his sting, to take away all his terrors, and to swallow him up in victory. "O Death, where is

thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ!"

It might, on some accounts, seem strange that so few, if any, death-scenes of the apostles or primitive disciples are left on record by divine inspiration. They must have been eminently animating and instructive. But their whole life was a living death; they died daily, and when we see them daily serving Christ, and daily desiring to depart and to be with Christ, the death-scene could add little to this testimony. St. Paul has given us, at the close of the fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, and also throughout the eighth chapter of the epistle to the Romans, a picture beforehand of the blessedness of Christ's servants in death. And the death-scene of the first martyr is given us in the Acts of the Apostles, with heaven opened, and the glory of God visible, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God; and in the view of this vision, the dying Stephen is praying for his murderers. This was an example for all that should come after, both of the divine consolations, of which they might be sure in the hour of suffering and death, and of that divine spirit of forgiveness, in the exercise of which they must glorify their Saviour.

That the divine glory in the death of Christians is the object of our Lord's particular regard, may be gathered from what is said when Jesus gave an intimation concerning the death of Peter, in one of his last interviews with, his disciples; "This spake

he, signifying by what death he should glorify God." This too is partly the meaning of that expression in the 116th Psalm, " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Every peaceful, every triumphant death-bed is a commentary on this passage; for the glory, the faithfulness, the mercy and love of the Saviour, and the love of his dear disciples to him, stronger than death, and the greatness of his atoning sacrifice, and the power of his blood to cleanse from sin and give peace to the conscience, are here exhibited, as they are nowhere else. Here the cross shines in its saving power and glory. Every precious thing in the character of Christ and the scheme of redemption, all the lovely attributes of God, and the unspeakable blessedness of those who have their portion in him, are here manifested together. All the lessons of the law and the Gospel seem brought to a point; but above all, the preciousness of Christ to the soul that rests on him is so illustrated, and the necessity of faith so demonstrated, that it seems as if the sight of one such death-scene, if all men could behold it, would draw all men to the Saviour. It does make all men exclaim, Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!

Let us now turn the light of Death upon our own life, for Death is the great Enlightener, in whose presence we see things as they really are, all delusions being withdrawn, all dreams having vanished, and an overpowering flood of light being thrown back upon the vanities through which we have been treading. Let us flee to Christ, and, by his grace,

live the life of the righteous, and so our last end shall be like his! Of true peace in death there is no possibility but by being IN CHRIST; but even the peace of a true Christian may be greatly obscured and troubled if he has been willing to live at a distance from his Saviour. But where the soul is in Christ, relying on his precious blood and righteousness, and the affections are habitually fixed upon the things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, then indeed dying is but going home.; and such blessedness is worth all the daily watchfulness in life, that can possibly be given for it. Such blessedness makes the soul live on the borders of Heaven, in the Land Beulah; for to be in the Land Beulah is to be spiritually minded, and that is the secret of all the blessed visions to be seen in that land. To be spiritually minded is life and peace; and they who are eminently so, are eminently happy. Nor is any labor to be accounted painful, in comparison to the sweetness of so resting upon God. The way to such blessedness may be trying, the steps to be taken may cost much self-denial, but the results are unspeakably glorious and delightful. Nor is there any happiness to be compared with that which is enjoyed by a growing Christian, a saint, whose life is truly hid with Christ in God. The happiness of walking with God daily is very great. It is blessed to breathe after God, to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and to long for the communication of his Spirit. It is blessed to feel with the Psalmist that the soul thirsteth for God, thrice blessed to cry out, As the hart panteth after