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DEATH
A
BLESSING
TO
THE SAINTS.
[SERM.
XLIII.
learn thereby
the frailty
of our natures
:
let us learn
so
to
"
number
our
days,
as to
apply
our
hearts
to
wisdom;
'Ps.
xc.
12.
and
be
awakened
to
an active
and
immediate
preparation
for the day
of our
own
death.
If
we
see
im-
penitent
sinners dying
under
the
anguish
of
a guilty
con
-
science,
let
us
gain
a sensible lesson
of
the dreadful
evil
of
sin
:
let
it raise such
a
religious fear
of
the
wrath
of
God,
and such
a
sacred
gratitude
for
our
deliverance,
from the torments
of
hell, as may
quicken
every
grace
into
its
warmest exercise,
and its
brightest
evidence.
If
death
seize
upon our Lord Christ
himself, his
dying
groans
lay
a foundation
for our immortal hopes
:
Let
us
meditate
on
the thousand
blessings
we
receive from
his
cross
and
his
tomb.
Do
the saints
around
us lie
down
and
die
?
We should
learn
to
follow them
boldly into
the dark
valley,
and
to
fall
asleep
in
the
dust
with
the
same chearful hopes
of
the
joyful
rising-day. Does
death
come
near
us
into
our
own family,
and
tear our
dear re-
latives
from
our
arms
?
Even
this may be
turned
to
our
advantage
too
:
it
should
render
the
world
and
the plea-
sures
of it
more insipid and worthless
:
it
should loosen
our
heart-
strings
from
the fond embraces
of
the
creature;
for
it
calls
our
eyes
and
our
souls
heaven-ward and
home-
ward,
and
that
with a
loud and
sensible
voice,
if
nature
and grace are
awake to
hear
it.
If
death and
the grave
be
ours, and
we
make no
use
of
this privilege,
we
are
like misers,
who have
treasure
in
their
possession,
but never
employ
it
to any valuable
purpose. Has Christ our Lord taken death
among
his
captives,
and
made
it
his own
property
?
Let
us
look
upon ourselves
as
humble sharers
in
the victory
;
he has
appointed
it
to serve the
interest of
all
his
followers
:
He
has
put
it
into the inventory
of
our treasures. Let
us
im-
prove
it then
to
these divine purposes,
let
us seize
and
en-
joy
the
spoils which
Christ, the
Captain of our
Salvation,
has
taken
from the
hands
of
the
prince
of
darkness.
II.
Is death become
your
possession,
O believers,
through
the grace
of the covenant
:
Fear it not
then,
but
ever
look upon
it
with an
eye
of
faith
as a
conquered
ad-
versary
:
Behold it,
as
reduced
to
your
service
;
wait
for
it, with holy
courage and
pleasure
;
it
is
a messenger
of
mercy
to
your
souls from Christ, who
bath vanquished it
in the
open
field
of
battle,
and reduced
it
to
his
subjec=