. An Ohjd?ion ttnj'11Jeud. ~ -utmofi to mar the peace, and increafe the fearsoftlle faint . Finally; The bad .f:fame of fpir-it, a nd ill conditio~,. in ' which death fometimes feizeth a true Chri4ia~t may caufe this perple:1rir;y. 13y his being in the ftate of gra<;e . he i_s indeed always habitually prepared for -death. ·and . - .his dying fafely is infured: but there is more req~ifite to. · • his aClual preparatio_n. and dyin_g comfortab)y; hts fpirit: muft be in good cortdition too. . • . Wherefore there are three cafes, m whtch -death can- ' 1lOt but be very uncomfortable to a child 'Jf God. ( r.) If it fe-ize .him at a time when th -~ guil,t of fdme particular ftn unrepented of, is lying on his confcience; and death comes on that very account, to take him out of the l:tnd · of the living; as was the cafe of many of the Corinthian belie-vers, t Cor. xi.. 30. For thil caufo (_namely, of un• worthy communicating) many are weak and)icldf among you, and many'jlup. If a perfon is furprifed with the ap– :proach of death, while lying under the guilt of fome un– pardoned lin, it C<~IlnQt but caufe a mighty confternation_. (2.) When death catches him napping. The midnight .~ry muH: be frighful to fleeping v;irgins. The man who li.es in a. ruino:us houfe, arrd awakens not till the timber · · begins to crack, 'an,d the ·ftones to drop down about his ears, may indeed g~t out of it fafely, but not without, tear5 of being cruih'd 'by its falL ' \Vhen a Chrih:ian·has been going on in a courfe of fecurity an4 backfliding, and aw4kens not till death comes to his bed-fide; it is no mar-· ,vel Whe get a fearful 'awakening~ Lafily, \Vhen . he. h.:~ loft fight of his favi.ng.intereH: in Chri£1:, and ' cannot prc... duce evidences of his title to heaven. It is hard to meet peath without fome evidence of a title to eternal life at hand: hard to go through the dark valley without the candle of the Lord fhining upon the head. It is a te rri– hJ.e a4Ye'i1ture to, launc?. out into etern.~.ty, when a maa can i1fake no better of tt, than a leap m the dark, not knowing \vhere he fhail light, whether in heaven or htll. Neverth~1efs,' the fl:ate of the faints in their death is aiways .iQ !tfelf qopeful., The prefumptuous hopes of the · un.godl y i ~t)lei'r death~ cannot m~ke their ftate hopeful; netthc-r ~::tn the hopeleflnefs of a famt make his ·fl:ate ·hope– le[.): for God judgeth ac,cord:ng to the u:u'th of the thing, · ·' not
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