Watts - Houston-Packer Collection BX5207.W3 S4x 1805 v.2

OISb. II.I THE WATCHFUL CIlRISTIAN DYING IN PEACE. JúL inhabitants, the nations of the saved, or the crouds of 'damned souls; and blessed is the watchful christian, for he is ready to enter into the unseen regions : fie knows he shall not be placed among those, whose company and whose character henever loved here on earth " his soul shall not be gatheredwith sinners, nor his dwelling be with the workers of iniquity ;" Ps. xvi. 3. " but with the saints, the excellent in the earth, in whom was all his delight ;" Ps. xxvi. 9. Everyonewhen dismissed from the prison of this body, must go as. the apostles did, when released from the prison of Jerusalem, " to their own company;" Acts iv. 23. Judas the traitor went " to his 'own place ;" Acts i. 25. And the watchful christianwill be disposed among spirits of thejust made perfect, he will find him- self in that blessed society at hisdismission from flesh and blood. Read, and see; what a glorious society it is; Heb. xii. 22, 23. "To the innumerable company of an- gels, the general assembly and church of the first-born, who ?,re written in heaven, to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant. The apostle says, we are come to them already, that is, by the covenant of grace, as administered under the gospel, we are brought into a blessed union with them, in spirit and in temper, even in this life, we are members of the same body, we are united to the same head, and made parts of the same .household, though we are not yet brought home : But at death we are actually present with them, and dwell. and ' converse among themwith holy familiarity, as citizens of the same heavenly Jerusalem, as parts of the saine sacred family, and at home, as children of the same God, and in their Father's house. The watchful christian is at once carried into the midst of the blessed world by ministering angels, the world where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwell, and made a speedy partaker of their blessedness; Luke xvi. 22. CónsiderationVI. Deathbringswith it amost amazing and inconceivable change of all our present circum- stances and thoughts, our actions and pursuits, our sensa- tionsand enjoyments, I mean, all those that relate to this life only, suchaseating, drinking, buying, selling, &c. It dislodges us from these bodies, and thereby finishes all those affections, concerns and labours which belong to.tlle

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