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THE DEATH
OP
SAINTS
IMPROVED.
CSERM.
Ps.
xxxvii. 37. we
are
animated
to walk with
God
in the
same uprightness,
and
to
press
after
the
same perfection.
Having
such
a cloud
of
witnesses
that
have
gtte
be-
fore
us,
and
Christ our Lord
at
the head
of
them,
we
run
with
patience
the
race
that
is
set before
us,
till
we
arrive
at
the promised
glory
;"
Heb.
xii.
1.
To
stand
near
the
bed
of
a dying saint,
and
observe
the
sweet
serenity of
his soul
under
the agonies
of
bis
flesh,
would force
Balaam himself
to
say,
"
Let
me die the
death of
the righteous, and let
my
last
end be
like
his ;"
Num.
xxiii.
10.
But
the. Christian goes
further,
and
with holy
zeal,
and
humble
dependance upon
divine
grace,.
establishes himself
in
the
ways
of
holiness
:
He
resolves
that
he will
live
the
life
of
the righteous too,
and
tread
in
the paths
of
piety
with
utmost
watchfulness and
.
care
that
he may lay a
foundation
for
the same peaceful
reflections on
his
death
-bed, and the same
joyful pros-
pect.
3.
The death
of
fellow-
saints
is
for our
benefit,
as
it
weans
us
from this world,
as
it
makes
earth
and this
life
less
pleasant
to
us,
and
heaven more desirable.
Every
holy soul
that
leaves
the
world,
carries
away
so
much
more
grace and goodness
from
it.
What
would this
world
be
if
all the
saints had left
it,
but
a cage
of
unclean
birds,
a
nest
of
serpents,
a
wilderness
of
savage beasts,
a
habitation
of
Satan, and his sons and
daughters;
a
dwelling
of
devils,
and a
region
of
darkness
a
-kin to
hell
?
Did not
converting grace turn sinners into
saints, and
make
a
constant
succession
of
Christians,
this would
be
the
dismal
character of
this world
in
the space
of
one
generation.
But,
_blessed
be
God,
as
bad as this
world
is,
divine grace
is
still
at
work,
and makes
it a sort
of
nursery for heaven
by new
conversions.
Yet
still
the
death
of
the saints
is
the
loss
of
so
mnch
of
heaven'
out of
our
sinful
world
and
the
fewer friends
God
has here,
there
will be
the fewer
communications
between heaven and earth.
The
absence
of
Christ
and
his saints,
spreads a sort of
dim shadow over
all
the
fairest colours
of
this
lower
creation
:
the beauties
of it
fade,
and
the
flowers
of
it,
in
our
esteem, languish
and
bang their
heads, because
Jesus,
and
so
many
of
his
holy
ones,
are departed. When
we
see
one pious friend
after
another,
taking
their
leave
of
us,
and ascending
to
the