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or reverse his appointments: but his constitution will stand,. and you shall be judged according to it, whether you will or not. Do not make that the ground or evidence of your hope, which he has not so made, or which he has pronounced the characteristic of the heirs of hell. You hope, perhaps, to be saved, though you live in the wilful neglect of some known duty, or in the wilful practice of some known sin. But has God given you any reason for such a hope? You know he has not, but the contrary. You hope he will shew mercy to you, because his nature is mercy and love, and he is the compassionate Father of his creatures; or because Christ has died for sinners. But has he given you any assurances, that because he is so merciful---because he is so compassionate a Father-because Christ has died for sinners, therefore he will save you in your present condition? You hope to be saved, because you are as good as the generality, or perhaps better than many around you. But has God made this a sufficient ground of hope? Has he told you, that to be fashionably religious, is to be sufficiently religious; or, that the way of the multitude leads to life?. This may be your hope; but is it the authentic declaration of eternal Truth? You know it is not, but the quite contrary. I might add sundry other instances of unscriptural hope; but these may suffice as a specimen. And I shall lay down this general rule, which will enable yourselves to make farther discoveries, namely, Those hopes are all false, which are opposite to the declarations of God in his word. Cerainly, this needs no proof to such as believe the divine authority of the Scriptures and, as for the infidels, it is not the business of this day to deal with them. You, who acknowledge the Scriptures as the foundation of your religion, with what face can you entertain hopes unsupported by them, or contrary to them? Hopes, that must be disappointed, if God be true; and that cannot be accomplished unless he prove a liar? Can you venture your eternal all upon such a blasphemous hope as this? But I proceed,

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Thirdly, To consider the various degrees and limitations of a good hope in death.

A good hope is always supported by evidence; and, according to the degree of evidence, is the degree of hope. When the evidence is clear and undoubted, then it rises to a joyful assurance but when the evidence is dark and doubtful, then it wavers, and is weakened by dismal fears and jealousies. Now, I

have told you already, that the evidence of a good hope, is a person's discovering, by impartial examination, that those characters, which God has pronounced the inseparable characters of those that shall be saved, do belong to him: or, that he has those graces and virtues, which are at once his preparation for heaven, and the evidence of his title to it. Now different believers, and even the same persons at different times, have very different degrees of this evidence. And the reason of this difference is, that sundry causes are necessary to make the evidence clear and satisfactory; and, when any of these are wanting, or do not concur in a proper degree, then the evidence is dark and doubtful. In order to be fully satisfied of the truth and reality of our graces, it is necessary we should arrive to some eminence in them : otherwise, like a jewel in a heap of rubbish, they may be so blended with corruption, that it may be impossible to discern them with certainty. Hence the weak Christian, unless he have unu, sual supplies of divine grace, enters the valley of the shadow of death with fear and trembling: whereas he, who has made great attainments in holiness, enters it with courage, or perhaps with transports of joy. It is also necessary to a full assurance of hope, that the Spirit of God bears witness with our Spirit, that we are the sons of God,* or, that he excites our graces to such a lively exercise, as to render them visible by their effects, and distinguishable from all other principles. And therefore, if a sovereign God see fit to withhold his influences from the dying saint, his graces will languish, his past experiences will appear confused and doubtful, and consequently his mind will be tossed with anxious fears and jealousies. But if he be pleased to pour out his Spirit upon him, it will be like a ray of heavenly light, to point out his way through the dark shades of death, and open to him the transporting prospects of eternal day, that lies just be fore him.

Another thing that occasions a difference in this case, is, that an assured hope is the result of frequent self-examination; and therefore, the christian that has been diligent in this duty, and all his life been labouring to make all sure against his last hour, generally enjoys the happy fruits of his past diligence, and enters the harbour of rest with a λngo@ogia, with sails full of the fair gales of hope: but he that has been negligent in this duty, iş tossed with billows and tempests of doubts and fears, and is afraid of being ship-wrecked in sight of the port.

Rom. viii. 16.

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It is also necessary to the enjoyment of a comfortable hope in death, that the mind be in some measure calm and rational, not clouded with the glooms of melancholy, or thrown into a delirium or insensibility by the violence of the disorder. And, according as this is, or is not the case, a good man may enjoy, or not enjoy, the comforts of hope.

These remarks will help us to discover with what limitations we are to understand my text, "The righteous hath hope in his death." It does not mean that every righteous man has the same degree of hope; or that no righteous man is distressed with fears and doubts in his last moments. But it means, in the First place, That every righteous man has substantial reason to hope, whether he clearly see it, or not. His eternal all is really safe; and as all the false hopes of the wicked cannot save him, so all his fears cannot destroy him, though they may afford him some transient pangs of horror. He is in the possession of a faithful God, who will take care of him; and nothing shall pluck him out of his hands. He sees fit to leave some of his people in their last moments to conflict at once with death and with their more dreadful fears but even this will issue in their real advantage. And what an agreeable surprise will it be to such trembling souls, to find death has unexpectedly transported them to heaven!

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Secondly, When it is said, "the righteous hath hope in his death," it means, that good men, in common, do, in fact, enjoy a comfortable hope. There never was one of them that was suffered to fall into absolute despair, in this last extremity. In the greatest agonies of fear and suspicion, the trembling soul has still some glimmering hope to support it; and its gracious Saviour never abandons it entirely. And it is the more common case of the saints, to enjoy more comfort and confidence in death, than they were wont to do in life. Many, that in life were wont to shudder at every danger, and fly at the sound of a shaking leaf, have been emboldened at death to meet the king of terrors, and to welcome his fiercest assault. The soldiers of Jesus Christ have generally left this mortal state in triumph; though this is not an universal rule. And who would not wish and pray for such an exit? that he may do honour to his God and Saviour, and to his religion, with his last breath; that he may discover to the world, that religion can bear him up, when all other supports prove a broken reed; and that his last words may sow the seeds of piety in the hearts of those that surround his dying bed; this every

good man should pray and wish for; though it must be left in the hands of a sovereign God to do as he pleases.

Thirdly, When it is said, "the righteous hath hope in his death," it may mean, that the hope which he hath in death shall be accomplished. It is not a flattering, delusive dream, but a glorious reality; and, therefore, deserves the name. His "hope

shall not make him ashamed," ," but shall be fulfilled, and even exceeded. However high his expectations, death will convey him to such a state, as will afford him an agreeable surprise; and he will find, that it "never entered into his heart to conceive the things that God hath laid up for him, and for all that love him."+

This is the glorious peculiarity of the good man's hope. Many carry their hope with them to death, and will not give it up, till they give up the ghost. But as it is ungrounded, it will end in disappointment and confusion. And oh into what a terrible consternation will it strike them, to find themselves surrounded with flames, when they expected to land on the blissful coasts of paradise!-To find their judge and their conscience accusing and condemning, instead of acquitting them !—to find their souls plunged into hell under a strong guard of devils, instead of being conducted to heaven by a glorious convoy of angels !—to feel the pangs and horrors of everlasting despair succeed, in an instant, to the flattering prospect of delusive hope! to fall back to hell from the very gates of heaven! Oh! what a shocking disappointment, what a terrible change is this!

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Therefore, now, my brethren, make sure work. ture your souls upon the broken reed of false hope. all diligence to make your calling and election sure." may make a profitable discovery of your mistake: if your hope be ungrounded, you have now time and means to obtain a good hope through grace. But then it will be too late your only chance, if I may so speak, will be lost; and you must forever stand by the consequences. O, can you bear the thought of taking a leap in the dark into the eternal world; or of owing your courage only to a delusive dream? Why will you not labour to secure so important an interest, beyond all rational possibility of a disappointment? Have you any thing else to do, which is of greater, of equal, or comparable importance? Do you think you will approve of this neglect upon a dying bed, or in the eternal world? * Rom. v. 5. † 1 Cor. ii. 9. 2 Peter i. 10.

Let this subject strengthen the hope of such of you, whose hope will stand the scripture-test. You must die, 'tis true; your bodies must be the food of worms: but be of good courage; your almighty and immortal Saviour will support you in the hour of your extremity, and confer immortality upon you. He will also quicken your mortal bodies, and re-unite them to your souls, and make your whole persons as happy as your natures will admit." Blessed be God, you are safe from all the fatal consequences of the original apostacy, and your own personal sin. Death, the last enemy, which seems to survive all the rest, shall not triumph over you but even death itself shall die, and be no more. Oh, happy people! who is like unto you, a people saved by the Lord.* Let me now conclude with a melancholy contrast: I mean the wretched condition of the wicked in a dying hour. Some of them, indeed, have a hope, a strong hope, which the clearest evidence cannot wrest from them. This may afford them a little delusive support in death; but upon the whole, it is their plague it keeps them from spending their last moments in seeking after a well-grounded hope and as soon as their souls are separated from their bodies, it exposes them to the additional confusion of a dreadful disappointment.-Others of them lived like beasts; and like beasts they die : that is, as thoughtless, as stupid, about their eternal state, as the brutes that perish. Oh! what a shocking sight is the death-bed of such a stupid sinner! -Others, who with a great deal of pains, made a shift to keep their consciences easy, in the gay hours of health and prosperity, when death and eternity stare them in the face, find this sleeping lion rousing, roaring, and tearing them to pieces. They had a secret consciousness before, that they had no ground for a comfortable hope; but they suppressed the conviction, and would not regard it. But now it revives, and they tremble with a fearful expectation of wrath and fiery indignation. This is especially the usual doom of such, as lived under a faithful ministry, and have had a clear light of the gospel, and just notions of divine things forced upon their unwilling minds. It is not so easy for them, as for others, to flatter themselves with false hopes, in the honest, impartial hour of death. Their knowledge is a magazine of arms for their consciences to use to torment them. Oh! in what horrors do some of them die! and how much of hell do they feel upon earth!

* Deut. xxxiii. 29.

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