vour.

for their good." Whether they live, or whether they die, every occurrence turns out a matter of faIf they live; it is, that they may support their companions in tribulation, and insure to themselves a greater reward, by maintaining for a longer season, the victorious fight of faith....if they die ; it is, that they may rest from their labours, and come to a more perfect enjoyment of their Master's presence. "Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord: they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." And in the mean-time, blessed are the living, who live in the Lord for they are honourably engaged in those important conflicts, which will daily add to their spiritual strength, and augment the brilliancy of their final triumph.

TRAIT XXXIX.

THE CONSTANCY OF HIS ZEAL AND DILIGENCE TO THE END OF HIS COURSE,

as

LIVING or dying the faithful servant of Christ never acts unworthy of his character. "Blameless and harmless in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, a child of God, without rebuke, he shines," to the end of his course, 66 a light in the world." He beholds death, whether it be natural or violent, always without fear, and generally with pleasure, regarding it as a messenger appointed for his safe conduct into that glorious state, where they rejoice together, who have continued faithful to the end. He is anxious only, that his Lord may find him occupied in the grand business, he was commissioned to perform and the nearer his hour approaches, the more earnest he is, that he may finish his ministry with joy. If he

is no longer able to exhort the brethren in person, he writes to them in the manner of St. Peter: "I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things," the doctrines, precepts, threatenings, and promises of the Gospel, "though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in rest membrance; knowing, that shortly I must put off this tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewn me." He desires at such a season, to address the faithful, and especially young ministers, as St. Paul addressed the Corinthians and Timothy: My beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Thou," Timothy, "hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra ; what persecutions I endured but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all, that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry; for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand."

Thus triumphantly St. Paul advanced toward the end of his course. And thus the faithful minister, pouring fresh oil into his lamp as the night advances, goes forth to meet his approaching God, whom his faith already considers as a faithful Judge, and his hope as a munificent Rewarder.

TRAIT XL.

HIS TRIUMPH OVER THE EVILS OF LIFE, AND THE TERRORS OF DEATH.

THE living faith, that sustains a good pas tor, or a believer in Christ, amid all the difficulties and afflictions of life, causes him more especially to triumph at the approach of death in all its terrific appearances. Ever filled with an humble confidence in him, who is the Resurrection and the Life, he frequently expresses the assurance of his victorious faith, at this solemn season, in the manner of St. Paul: “Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ. Knowing, that he, who raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you ; therefore, we faint not but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Thus holding up the shield of faith, to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one, and to receive the piercing arrows of the angel of death, he expects his last hour without fear or impatience; cheerfully leaving the time, the place, the manner, and the circumstances of this concluding trial, to the disposal of that God, whose wisdom, goodness, and power, are all combined to insure him the victory. Whether he is called by the providence of God, in a chamber, or upon a scaffold, to taste the bitter cup, of which his master drank so deeply, he prepares himselfto accompany a suffering Saviour, encouraged with the hope, that he shall not be tempted above his strength, and that, if he suffers and dies with the King of glory, he shall also rise and reign together with him.

At length the fatal shaft is thrown, whether by accident, by disease, or by the hand of an executioner is of little consequence; the true christian, prepared for all events, sees and submits to the order of providence He receives the mortal blow, either with humble resignation, or with holy joy. In the first case, his soulis sweetly disengaged from its. earthly tabernacle, while he breathes out the e supplicatory language of happy Simeon: "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." But in the second case, he leaves the world in a state of holy triumph, crying out in the fullest assurance of faith....my persuasion takes place of sight, and without the help of vision I endure as seeing him that is invisible; as effectually sustained, as though contemplating with Stephen an open Heaven, I saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God, ready to save and glorify my soul. Of these two manners of holy dying, the most enviable appears to have been the lot of St. Paul, if we may judge from the anticipated triumph he describes in several of his epistles, and particularly in the last he addressed to Timothy from Rome, where he received the crown of martyrdom. I desire to depart and to be with Christ, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give me at that day to whom be glory for ever and ever. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or the sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him, that loved us. For

I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Thus the great Apostle went forth to meet his last trial, counting it an honour to suffer in the cause of truth, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. The enemies of christianity rendered him at last conformable to Christ in his death; but while they severed his head from his body, they united his happy spirit more intimately to that exalted Jesus, who had once met him in the way, and who now was waiting to receive him, at the end of his course. Happy are the faithful, who, like this faithful Apostle, live unto the Lord! yet happier they, who, like him, are enabled to die unto the Lord! "Their works do follow them," while "they rest from their labours," and wait, in peace, the resurrection, and the sublime rewards of the righ