225 / 674
TERM.
xrl.]
THE DEATH
OF
SAINTS
IMPROVED.
20
derive a
blessing from
it, by
the
instructions
of
the gos-
pel,
and
the
aids
of
grace.
"
Thou hast heard the
lessons
that
the
death
of
man-
kind
in
general should teach thee
:
Enquire
now
what
thou
hast learned
of
them
Hast
thou
seen
the vanity
of
man
as
a
mortal
dying
-
creature
?
It
is
an easy
matter
to
say,
"
Alas,
we
must
all
die
:
But hast thou
felt the
penetrating
force
of
this
truth
?
And
does
it
influence thy'
whole
conduct
?
Art
thou
not
still,
at
every
turn,
put-
ting thy confidence
in
one
creature or another,
whose
breath
is
in his nostrils,
and whose
death disappoints thy
hope
?
Or
hast
thou removed thy
dependance
from
all
creatures
to God,
and
fixed thy
hope
in him
that
lives
for ever
?.O
blessed effect
of
the meditation of death
?
"
Again,
hast
thou
seen
the
heinous
evil
of
sin
in
the
spreading
desolation
that
death
has made over this
lower
world
?
Remember
that
it
received
its commission from
the
justice of
God, almost
six
thousand
years
ago,
and
from
his law
which
sin had broken
:
The dreadful
execu-
tion proceeds
to
this day,
and
it
will
proceed till there be
no
sinner upon
earth.
Sin
is
the spring
of
all this
ha-
voc
of
the
lives
of
men.
It
is
sin
that
has deserved all
these
tremendous
executions
of
wrath
:
And
yet,
O
my
soul,
how
often hast thou indulged this mischief,
to
play
about
thy bosom, like
a
harmless
thing?
Corne, view
the
dismal
effects
of
it,
in
the death
of
millions,
and learn to
hate and renounce it
for ever.
It
is
no small evil
that
could awaken the indignation
of God
at
this
rate,
and
diffuse
it
so widely,
over
so
large and
so
glorious a
part
of
his
creation,
as the whole
nature and race
of
man.
"
Again,
I
would
enquire,
has the
death
of
mankind
taught
me
effectually,
that
I
must shortly
die
?
And
have
I
been
excited, to make
a
suitable provision for
this aw-
ful and
important
hour, since
I
must not,
I
cannot
escape
it?
"
Not
only
the death
of
mankind
in
general,
but the
death
of
wicked men, may
instruct
me in
some useful
lessons too.
Here
I learn
how
God
rescues
his
children
from
the
rage
of
oppressors,
when
he smites them down
to
death, and
lays all
their
fury
silent
in
the dust.
Thus
death itself
becomes a
deliverer
to
the saints,
by
destroy-
ing their cruel persecutors.
"
I
learn
also,
that
when
early
or sudden death
haste