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THE
COTSQVEST
OVER
DEAT$.
[DISC.
I.
or
no,
whether I
shall stand the
test
in
that
day?
I
dread
that
solemn,
that
important
hour
that
shall
put
me
into
an unchangeable state
of
miseries
that
are
infinite,
or
of
infinite
blessedness.
How
shall
1,
that
am a sinner,
stand
before
that tribunal
and
that
judge,
in whose
sight
no
mortal
can
be
innocent
?
My
evidences
for heaven
are dark and
cloudy,
that I cannot
read
them
;
they have
been often
sullied with fresh guilt, and I
doubt
whether
I
am
new
born or
no,
or reconciled
to
God. And
-what
if
I
should
he
mistaken
in
this affair
of
the
greatest
mo-
ment
?
The
mistake
can
never
be rectified
;
therefore
I
shake
at
the
thoughts of
death,
that
hour of decision;
for
My
faith
is
weak."
Another
saint
of
a
strong and
lively
faith,
but of
a
timorous temper
cries out,
"
Mow
shall
I
bear the ago-
nies and the pangs
of
death?
I
am
not
afraid
to
enter
into eternity;
the grace
of Christ,
and
his
gospel,
have
given
me
hope and courage enough
to be dead
;
but
I
am
still
afraid
of
.lying
;
it
is
a
hard and painful work,
how shall
I
sustain the
sharp
conflict
?
I
shiver
at the
thoughts
of
venturing through that
cold flood
that
di-
vides betwixt this wilderness and the promised land."
Another
Christian
is
too much
unacquainted
with
the
world
of
spirits, with the
nature of
the
separate
heaven,
with the
pàrticular
business
and blessedness
of
holy
souls
departed
:
and
he
is
afraid
to
venture out
of
this
region
of
flesh
and
blood, into a
vast and unknown
world.
Though
he
has
good
hope through grace,
that
he shall
arrive
safe
at
heaven
;
yet the
heavenly
country
is
so
unknown a
land,
and the
valley
of
entrance
to
it
so
dark,
that
he fears
to
pass
into it
through the shadow
of
death.
Another
is
terrified
at
the thoughts
of
death, because
he
knows
not
how to
part
with
his
dear
relatives
in
the
flesh,
and
to
leave them exposed
to
an
unkind
age
and a
thousand
dangers.
"
If
I had
none
to
leave behind
me,
I
could die with chearfulness
;
but
while
I
think
of
such
a
separation,
the
thought of death
has
terror
in it."
Thus upon varions accounts a
good man
may
have
fearful
apprehensions of
dying
;
and
that
which
carries
so
much
terror about
it,
may well
be
called an
enemy,
Before
we
proceed any further, let
us
make
two
re-
flections on
the
first
general
head: