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SERM.
XVII.]
THE DEATH
OF
KINDRED IMPROVED.
217
dying
lips,
had such an
air
of
solemnity and tenderness.
in them.
that
they have made
a deep impression upon
my heart.;
and
I
hope
I
shall never
forget
them.
The
prudent
and pious rules
that
my
elder relations
have of-
ten set
before
.me,
recur
to
my
thoughts
with
.double
effi-
cacy since
their death
:
I
shall
hear
them speak.
no
more,
I
shall
see.their.holy
examples
no
more
:
,I will
gather up
the fragments
of their
religious
counsels;-
and
make
.them the
rule
of
my
conduct
:
I
am
well
assured
their
souls
are
happy,
and
by
the grace
of God
I
will
tread
in
their
steps, till
I
arrive
at
those
blessed
regions,
where
I
hope
to
meet
them."
This thought
leads
me on to the
last instance of
bene-
fit
which
we
derive
from
the
death
of
our kindred
in
the
flesh.
VII.
The
death
of
dear
and
'near
relations.
calls
our
thoughts.in
a
more powerful and sensible manner,
to
converse
with
the grave
and
eternity.,
When
our
neighbours, or
our
common
acquaintance
die,
We
attend
the funeral,
and
cast an
eye
into
the
grave
;
we
spend
a thought or
two
on the
pit
of corrup-
tion, and the mouldering
dust:
We
awaken
a
meditation
or
two
on things heavenly and the world to come
;
and
we
return
quickly,
and busily
to this world
again
:
But
when
God
sends
death into our
chambers,
and
it makes
a
slaughter
there,
it
awakens
us
more effectually from
a
drowsy frame,
and
it
nails
our
thoughts
down to
our
most
important and
everlasting concerns.
"
Part of
me
is gone to the
dust
already, it
is
not
long
ere the surviv-
ing
part
shall
go
also.
Death
has
smitten the desire
of
my
eyes,
and the
partner of
my
joys,
it
will
strike
me
ere
long,
and
am
I
ready
?"
This thought
dwells
upon
the
heart
of
a
true
éhristia.n
at
such
a
season, and
while
the
spirit of
God
assists the work,
it
is
not
in
the power
of
all
the
trifles in
this
earth
to banish the
holy
thought,
and
rarnalize
the mind again.
As
when
a
man
is
seized with
the
dead
palsy,
or
has
a
limb
cut
off,
and buried
in
the
dust,
how
sensibly
does-
this awaken
in him
the
thought
of
death
and
futurity?
"
The
sentence
of
death
is
begun
to
be
executed
on me
already, and the whole
execution
will be
quickly
fulfilled,
it
is
time
now
to
be
ready, .for
death
is
in
good
earnest, and
has begun
his
work."
And
if
our departed relative
were
a christian indeed,