203
THE DEATH
OF SAINTS
IMPROVED.
[SEEM. XLI.
seized
a bold
sinner,
it
is
a loud warning-word
to
all
his
companions.
When
I
see
such
terrible
examples
in the
course of providence,
let
my soul
stand
in
awe
and
'fear.
"
And
if
God has distinguished
me by
his Mercy,
if
he
has
pardoned
my guilt,
and sanctified
my
corrupt
nature,
if
he
has
made
me one
of
his own
children, and
prepared
me
for
dying,
when he summons
others
away
unpar-
doned, unsanctified,
unprepared, let
all
my
powers
be
excited
to bless
the name
of
the
Lord
for
.his
saving lové.
I
was also
a
child
of
sin
and
wrath,
but'divine
grace has
made
the difference.
It
is
grace
that
has
snatched
me
from the
very brink
of
the
pit
of
hell,
and
is
training
me
up
for,
-
heaven.
"
And.
while
I
adore thy
distinguishing
mercy, O
my
God,
to
me,
I
would pity' and
pray
for poor
heedless
and
regardless sinners,
that are'
following.
one
another
in a
dismal succession, down to
the
gates
of
death.
O
may
their
eyes
and
souls be
awakened
in
their
day
of
life
and
hope, lest death
seize
them,
and
send
them
farther
down to everlasting
darkness and despair
!
"
13ut
if
such
lessons,
as these,
'may
be
derived from
the
death
of
sinners,
how
much more benefit
may be
drawn-
from
the
dying
hours
of
a
sincere christian, especially
if
his
heart
be strong,
and
his
faith lively
!
Here,
I
see
the
gospel
of Christ
in
some
of
its power
and
glory,
when I
see
a christian
under
all
the
weak-
nesses and
languishings
of
nature,
meeting
death
with-
out
terror, and overcoming
his
last
enemy
by
the blood
of
the
Lamb. I
see
the saint
all
serene and
peaceful,
even
in
the agonies
of
dying
nature,
and amidst the sor-
rows of
lamenting
friends.
He
has
heaven
in
view,
and he
bids farewell
to
earth
with holy
joy
Shall 'I
not
imitate
the faith and holiness
of
his life, which laid
a
foundation
for
so
peaceful
and
glorious
a
-death
?
Do
I
not
feel
my
soul a
little more weaned from
the
world, since such
a
pious friend
has
left it
?
Has not death
-lost some
of
-its
frightful
appearances,
since
L
have
actually
seen
it con-
quered
?
Do
I
not
feel my
heart'
panting and breathing
toward the
society above,
-since
I
have
another
friend
gone
thither
;
Does
it
not
seem a
more
easy
thing_
to me
to
lay down
this tabernacle,
to
part
with
flesh
and blood,
and
to
venture into
those unseen regions, since
I.
have
beheld
m'y
fellow
-
christian
go
before
me
?
He
has made
vommoll111