1,326 ., Chap. 42. crin Expo/itton upon the. Bockof J 0 B. Verf.. may dye at any time, be preparing for death at ati times. How miferable are they who are fo old that they cannot live, and yet fo unprepared that they are afraid to dye ?. fob died, and we snuff : If fo, Is it not our wifdome to prepare tor death ? Secondly, Submit quietly to the arreft of death. There is no flriving with the decrees of God. Our death is under a divine appointment (Ecclef. 8. 8.) There is no rlifcharge in that war, no . p;iviledge tobe pleaded, no exemption, no prefcription. Your tirength cannot fiand againft the aflaults of death,, your prudence and policy cannot find any way of efcape from it, nor can your piety or godlinefs deliver you our of the hands of natural death. Ai here is no work,nor devife, nor knowledge in the grave whither weare going (Ecclef. 9. r 0.) fo there is no knowledg, nodevice, no wifdom, can keep us from going into the grave, no, not our graces. Grace is as fait to the focal, preferving it from moral corruption for ever : Bute it cannot keep the bodyfrom natural )Ytorsefino" corruption in this world, becaufc our graces in this world are admit domefi- mingled with corruption. Death is dorneffical CO us, that is, we p a , qutmiuoto vifee" have the feed of it within our felves,we carry it daily inour bow ribwu no flrio els and in our bofomes; therefore fubmìt quietly to ir,, for there circumferimwe. i9 no avoiding ir. Plutarch. in Thirdly, Seing all mull dye, get that removed which is the Gonfol. od troubler of a death-bed, andthe flip of death; get that removed feu. which makes death bitter, get that removed which makes death, the Ding of terreurs, fo terrible, that is,fin. This fhould be our fiudy all the days of our life, to get rid of fin, to be dying to fin daily; becaufewe muft"dye atlaft, and may dye, for all that we know, or canaffure our felves, any day we live (r Cor, i . 56,) The fling of death iQ fin, Whenfoever, or in what way foever we dye, it will be well with us, if the fling of death be firft pull- ed out ; and whenfoever we dye, after never fo longa life, it will be miferable, if we dye in our fins; as Chrifii told the Jews in the highefl threat, I go away, and ye ¡hall dye in your fins (John $. 2 r,.) They that dye in their fins, dye a double death at once, a temporal and an eternal death together. And to thofe who have got the fling of death pulled out, that is, the guilt of fin-removed and walked off by the blood of Chriff, I would, Fourthly, Take this caution. If you would have death eafie to you, dye moreand more to fin daily. Some,who are dead to fin, may
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