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MSRM. ?CLI.1
THE
DEATH
OP
SAINTS
IMPROVED.
Igs
of
the
truth
and power
of
our religion, above all
other re-
ligions
in
the world, when
it
enables
a poor
feeble
dying
creature
to face'death
with
courage, to look beyond the
limits
of
life
and
time,
and venture
into an unseen
world.
with
holy,
joy and triumph.
It
gives us
a glorious evi-
dence,
that
the
principles
of
christianity are
such, as
will
justify
all
the
labours
of
a
holy
life,
and
will
bear
us
out
in the
profession
of
it,
in
the midst
of
ridicule
and
mockery,
of
persecution
and
martyrdom.
This surely
must
be
a
religion coming down from
God,
that
can
give
the
weak
and the unlearned such a courage,
as
to
encounter
death itself without fear
;
and
that
not
from
a
stupid and
senseless
temper
of
spirit,
not
from a
brutal
hardiness, such
as
carries the horse and the hero into the
battle, but
with
a
clear and
full
discovery
of God
and his
holiness,
of our
owxa
sins
and
his forgiving grace,
this
religion
can
enable
us
to venture into
his
immediate
presence. How
glorious
is
our
gospel, how
divine
a
doctrine
is
this
!
It
has
wrought ten thousand such won-
ders
by
faith
in the
blood
of
Christ,
as
the
great atone-
ment
for
sin,
and the
only way to
the
Father.
A saint
leaving this world,
and putting
off
mortality,
with the light
of
heaven
breaking
in
upon
his
soul,
and
the
beams
of
glory shining
round
about
him,
with
divine
joy
and
transport
in
his
countenance. and the language
of
heaven
upon
his lips,
brings the invisible world
into
present
view
:
The
pious
spectators
grow
up to a sensible
assur-
ance
of
the glories
and
felicities
of that,
invisible
world
;
each
of
them
sits
on
the borders
of paradise, each
of
them
gets a glimpse
of
the New
Jerusalem,
and
all the heavenly,
country, and
this adds
new
strength
to
his
faith and hope.
2.
The
glorious death
of our
fellow
-
christians greatly
encourages
the
imitation of their
holy
life.
To
see
a
child.
of
God
die
from
amongst
men, leave this
world
with
a
holy
contempt
and sincere
pleasure,
and
enter
into
the
presence
of
his
heavenly
Father
with
a
filial
confidence
:
to
see
him
finish his
race
with
joy, and,
as
it
were, lay
hold on salvation,
and put
on
his
heavenly
crown
:
This
calls
aloud
upon
us to
tread
in
the saine
steps,
to
pursue
the
blessed prize,
and
to be
"
followers
of
them,
who
through
faith
and patience,
inherit
the promises
;"
Heb,. vi. 12.
When
we
"
mark the perfect man, and
behold the upright, and
see
that
his
end
is
peace;"
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