04 REMNANTS OF TIME. the groans that attend it, are a shadow of that vengeance which was due even to the best of saints : It is fit we should see the picture of vindictive justice, before we are taken into the arms of eternal mercy. Besides, there may be another reason that renders the dying hour of this man more dreadful too : Perhaps lie had walked un- watchfully before God, and had given too much indulgence to some congenial iniquity, some vice that easily beset him ! now it becomes the great God to write his own hatred of sin in deep and piercing characters sometimes on his own children, that he may let the world know that he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity any where without resentment. The man had " built much hay and stubble upon the divine foundation Christ Jesus, and it was proper that he should be saved so as by fire." 1 Cor. iii. 15. Will the papist therefore attempt to support the structure of his purgatory upon such a text as this ? An useless structuré, and , vain attempt ! That place was erected by the superstitious fancy of men to purge out the sins of a dead` man by his own sufferings, and to make him fit for heaven in times hereafter ; as though the atoning blood of Christ were not sufficient for complete pardon, or the sanctifying work of the Spirit were imperfect even after death. Whereas the design of God in some such instances of terror, is chiefly to give now and then an example to survivors in this life how highly he is displeased with sin, and to discourage his own people from an indulgence of the works of the flesh. Now this end could not be attained by all the pains of their pre - tended purgatory, even though it were a real place of torment, because it is so invisible and unknown. But whatsoever sorrows the dying christians sustains in the wise administrations of providence, it is by no means to make compensation to God for sin; the atoning work of Christ is complete still, and the 'sanctifying work of the spirit perfect as soon as the soul is dismissed from earth ; therefore it has an en- trance into full blessedness, such as becomes. a God infinite in mercy to bestow on a penitent sinner, presented before the throne in the name and righteousness of his own Son. "We are com- plete in him ;" Col. ii. 10. By him made perfectly acceptable to God at our death, we are filled with all grace and introduced into complete glory. II. The death of a young Son. In a Letter to a Friend. MADAM, it has been the delight and practice of the pious in all ages, to talk in the words of scripture and in the language of their God : The images of that book are bright and beautiful; and where they happily correspond with any present providence, there is a certain divine pleasure in the parallel. The Jews have ever used it as afashionable style, and it has always been
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