377 / 674
DISC.
II:]
T.HE..WATCHFI7L.-CHRISTIAN
DYING
IN
PEACE.
351
Consideration
I.
That
moment
dispossesses us
of
every enjoyment.
of
flesh
and
blood, and divides us from
the commerce
of
this
visible world,
but
the wakeful.
Christian
is
happy,. for he
is
ready
to be
thus divided
and°
dispossessed.
Death breaks
the
band,-
at
once,
between
us
and
all
the sensible things
round
about
us,
by
dissolv-
ing
the
frame
of
this body, which
had united
us.to them
And
the watchful
saint
is
content
to
have
that
bond,
broken, these unions
dissolved.
His
heart.
and
soul
are
not
torn
away from the
dear
delights
of
this
mortal
state.
with
that
pain,
anguish,
and
horror that attend
the
sin-
ner,
when
death
summons
him off
the
stage,
and divides
him from
his
fleshly
idols.
The christian bath
been
un-
tying
his
heart,
by
degrees, from the
dearest
delights
of
sense, and
disengaging
.
it
from all
that
is
not
immortal
With
holy
pleasure
he can bid farewell
to
sun, moon,
and
stars,
and
to
all.
things, which
their light
can shew
him, for
he
is
going
to a
world, where
the sun
of
righte
ousness ever
Shines
in
unclouded
glory,
and discovers
Such
sights as
are infinitely
superior to
all
that
the
eyes
of
flesh
can
behold
:
He
can
part
with friends
:and
kin,
Bred
with a composed spirit, for
he
is
going to
meet
bet-
ter
friends,
'and
diviner kindred,
as
we
shall
shew
imme-
diately
:
He
can
leave
his
dying
flesh
behind
him,
and
commit it
to
the
dust, in
joyful hope of the great rising
day,
and
he
hath
a
better
mansion
at
present
provided
-for
him on high in his
Father's
house, while he lives
far
separate
from all
earthly
dwellings,
2
Cor.v.
i.
"W6
know,
that
if
this
earthly
house
of our tabernacle
be
dis-
solved,
we
have
a building
of
God,
not
made witlí
hands,
eternal
in
the heavens."
Consideration
II.
The
momeìñt
of
death
finishes
our
state of
trial,
and
fixes
us
unchangeably
in
the
state
of
sin
and holiness,
in which
we
are then found;. and blessed
is
the watchful christian,
for
he
is
prepared
to have
his
trial
thus
ended,
and
his
state
thus
fixed,
and
made
un-
changeable.
As
the
tree
falls, so
it
.lies,
whether'to the
north
or the south," Eccles.
xi.
3.
As the
soul-
parts
from
the body,
so
it remains,
whether
fitted for-heaven
or held
It
is
therefore
a
matter of
the
last importance
to be
pre-
pared,
and
ready for such an
eternal
sentence
and
un-
changeable
determination. Were
any
of
us.tó
be
sur-
prized
some
moment
this
day,
and
forced;
to
continue'all
A
3