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TAE DEATH
OF
KINDRED IMPROVED.
DSERM.
XLri,
for
when
he
is
tried,
he shall
receive
the
crown
of
life,
which the
Lord hath
promised
to
them
that
love
him,'
.James
i.
12.
And
upon
this
account,
he
exhorts
chris-
tians
in
the
second verse, to a very sublime
and
difficult
practice, "
My brethren,
count it
all
joy
when
ye
fall
intò
divers
temptations,
knowing
this,
that
the
trial
of
your
faith worketh patience, and
if
it
endures the
trial,
it
will
be
found unto
praise,
and honour, and
glory,
at
the
.appearing of Jesus Christ,"
1
Pet.
i.
7.
When God
sends
his
messenger
of
death,
and
takes
a
dear
and beloved
creature
from
our
arms,
or our
bosom,
the
divine
question
is
like
that of
our Lord
to
Peter,
"
Simon,
lovest thou
me
?"
John
xxi.
15-17.
"
Chris-
tian, lovest
thou
me
more than thou lovest this
creature?
Art
thou
willing to resign this
comfort
at
my
call
?
Hast
thou
not
given
thyself
to
me,
and does thy
heart
refuse
to
give
up
thy
son, thy
brother, or
thy
dearest
friend
?
Hast
'thou
not
called
me
thy sovereign
?
I
am corne now
to
enquire into
thy sincerity.
Dost
thou
resign thy most
beloved
objects to
my
disposal
?
I
gave
up
my Son to
death
for you
;
and
have you any
thing
so
dear
to you
as
my
Son was
to me?
What
says
your
heart
in answer
to
these
solemn questions
?
Do
you
love
me
above all
things,
or
no
?
Is your
will
bowed
down to my
foot
?
Can
you
now
repeat
from
your
very souls
the
same language,
in
which you have often
addressed
me
in
your
closets, and
in
my
sanctuary,
" I
am.
thine,
Lord,
I
am
thine;
all
that
I
have
is
thine?
"
Or
do you
murmur
and
quarrel at
my
providence,
when
I
send
my
servant death
to your
house,
to
try whether
these professions
of
yours
%ere
sin-
cere
or no
?"
Happy
the christian
that
comes off with
honour
in
this
hour of
trial,
and
who can say
heartily,
"
Lord,
I
resign
what
thou demandest, and
am
angry
with myself
that
I
should
find
so
much
reluctance
in my
heart,
to
surrender
any thing at the
call
of God
!"
What
a
shining
evidence
of
our
sincerity
is
obtained
at
such
a
season
?
What
a
noble
proof of
our supreme
love
to
God?
And it
shall
be
recorded
in
heaven for
our honour, and
produced
in
the day
of
the
Lord
Jesus
?
There
is
nothing
in
all the
history
of
Abraham,
the fa-
ther
of the faithful,
that
gives him
a
more shining
charac-
ter.,
on
earth,
or,
perhaps,
in
heaven,
than that
he gave up
.5