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THE
WATCHFUL CHRISTIAN DYING IN PEACE.
[DISC.
TI.
criminal,
but
as
a person approved, and
accepted, and
righteous
in thy
sight:
I
shall awake,
from this
world
of
dreams and
shadows,,
into
thy
complete
image,
and per-
fect
holiness
;
or
I
shall awake from
the dust
of
death;
and
shall
be
fully
satisfied; and
rejoice
to
find
myself
made
so
like
my
God,
and to
dwell
for ever in
his
pre-
sence."
Consideration IV.
It
is'
the
Lord Jesus
Christ
that
lets
the
soul
out of
the
body, for
"he
hath the
keys
of death,
and of the unseen
world," and
Messed
is
the watchful
christian,
who waits for
the coming
of
his
Lord,
for
he
can meet
him
gladly when fulfilling this
part
of
his
glori-
ous
office.
He
shall
be
introduced
by him
into
the
pre-
sence
of God
his
Father,
and
shall receive
most
conde-
scending instances
of
mercy from
Christ
himself. See
the
text,
Luke
xii.
36, 37.
"
Be ye
yourselves likemen,
that
wait
for the
Lord,
that, when
he cometh,
and .knocketh,
ye
may
open to
him
immediately.
Blessed are those
ser-
vants,
whom
the Lord,
when he
cometh, shall
find
watch-
ing:
Verily,
I
say
to
you, he shall
gird
himself,
and make
them
sit down to meat, and come
forth,
and
serve
them."
He
shall
condescend,
as
it
were, even below
the
office
of
a
steward, he shall
bring out the
heavenly' provisions
of
his
Father's house,
and
make
them
sit down
in
his
kingdom,.
and
give
them divine refreshments after
their
labours:
he shall feed
them
as
a shepherd,
shall
lead
them
to living
fountains
of
water,
and
afford them
his
presence for
-ever.
The
watchful christian
is
blessed, indeed, when he
shall
be.
absent
from
the
body,
and
be
at
once
present
with the Lord,
2
Cor.
v.
8.
The
Lord
Jesus,
whom
he
bath
seen
by
faith in
his gospel;
whose voice he
bath
heard
in
his word,
and
obeyed
it;
Jesus,
whom he
bath
touched, and
tasted
in the
appointed
emblems
of
his
supper
on
earth,
in whom
he-
bath believed
through
the
word of
grace, and
whom he
bath
loved before he
saw
him,
shall now receive
him
into
his
presence, and
the
disciple shall rejoice for ever to meet
his
Lord
with
joy
unspeakable
and
full
of
glory.
Consideration
V. At the
hour of
death
we
are
seat at
once into an invisible
world,
we
shall
find
ourselves
in
the
midst
of
holy
or
of unclean spirits
;
borne
away
at
once
into an unknown
region,
and into the midst of unknown