312 AN EXAMPLE OF thee in the world ! While I have a thought to think, let me not forget thee ; or a tongue to move, let me mention thee with delight ; or a breath to breathe, let it be after thee and for thee ; or a knee to bend, let it daily bow at thy footstool! and when by sickness thou confinest me, do thou make my bed, number my pains, and put all my tears into thy bottle ! § 27. " As my flesh desired what my spirit abhorred, so now let my spirit desire that day which my flesh ab- horreth ; that my friends may not with so much sorrow wait for the departure of my soul, as my soul with joy shall wait for its own departure ! Then let me die the death of the righteous, and let'my last end be like his ; even a removal to that glory which shall never end ! Then let thy convoy of angels bring my depart- ing soul among the perfected spirits of the just, and let me follow my dear friends that have died in Christ before me ; and while my sorrowing friends are weep- ing over my grave, let my spirit be reposed with thee in rest ; and while my corpse shall lie rotting in the dark, let my soul be in the inheritance of the 'saints in light ! O thou that numberest the very hairs of my head, number all the days that my body lies in the dust ; and thou that writest all my mem- bers in thy book, keep an account of -my scattered bones ! O my Saviour, hasten the time of thy return send forth thy angels, and let that dreadful joyful trumpet sound ! Delay not, lest the living give up their hopes ; delay not, lest earth should grow like hell, and thy church by division be all crumbled to dust; delay not, lest thy enemies get advantage of thy flock, and lest pride, hypocrisy, sensuality, and unbe- lief, prevail against thy little remnant, and share among them thy whole inheritance, and when thou comest thou find not faith on the earth ; delay not, lest the grave should boast of victory, and having learned re- bellion of its guest, should refuse to deliver thee up thy due ! O hasten that great resurrection -day, when command shall go forth, and none disobey ; when the sea and earth shall yield up their hostages, and all that sleep in the grave shall awake, and the dead in Christ
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