Death therefore, is so far from terrifying such as have made it familiar to them, that it fills them full of joy and comfort. As a child that looks upon his father, who is masked, is frightened, and begins to cry, but if he hath but the courage to pull off the vizard, and sees the loved countenance of his parent hid under that deformity, he not only ceases from weeping, and puts away his fears, but also leaps for joy, and embraces him: so, if we look with a timorous eye upon death's outward visage only, we are struck with horror at its hideous appearance; but if we take but the courage to lift up the deceitful vizard, we shall soon discover our heavenly Father, and leap with tears of joy to embrace him. As the apostles, when they saw at a distance, and in the night, Jesus Christ walking upon the sea, cried out for fear, supposing it had been a spirit; but when he drew nigh to them, and they heard his voice, they perceived him to be their Lord and Saviour; and having received him into their ship, the tempest immediately ceased.--Thus if we look upon death at a distance, the blindness and ignorance with which we are surrounded will represent it to us as a frightful spirit; but if we take a nearer view of it, by the light of the gospel, we shall find it to be our salvation and our deliverance that approaches. All our fears will then be hushed, and our souls will return to our former calmness. In a word, as he that flies before his enemy increases his courage, and makes him the more eager and resolved in the pursuit; so, when death sees us tremble and turn pale at its approach, it becomes the more insolent, and makes the more haste to devour us.

We must therefore think betimes of death, meditate upon it without ceasing, and make it familiar to us.

This was holy Job's practice, I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: To the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister, ch. xvii. 14. I am of opinion that this was also one of the principal reasons why Philip, king of Macedon, commanded one of his pages to cry aloud to him every morning, at his first awaking, Remember, O King, that thou art a man! For by this often repeated lesson, he not only endeavoured to subdue his mind to humility, and to teach his frail nature not to grow proud of a sceptre, or abuse its power, but he likewise proposed, by this means, to make death familiar to him, that he might not be surprised or dismayed when it made its approaches. This was also without doubt, the design of the emperor Mervan, or Mervanes, when he caused this motto to be engraved on his seal, Remember that thou must die! What his courtiers were afraid to tell him, these few words put him in mind of every moment; and this great prince could never put his seal to a warrant for the execution of any man, but at the same time, he represented to himself, that his own death was inevitable. For the same reason, the chief men among the Chinese are used to keep their coffins ready made in their chambers, that at every moment, they may look death in the face. And with the same view, the Egyptians, in their most splendid entertainments, always placed a dead man's scull upon the sideboard; intending, by this spectacle, not only to teach their guests to moderate their joys, and restrain their unruly appetites, but also to bring them acquainted with, and to accustom them to behold death in the midst of all their delights, as if they had invited it to their feast, that they might rcjoice together with it. I conceive it to have been for the same cause, that the Jews built their sepulchres in their

gardens, that they might have the image of death continually before their eyes; and that, in the midst of all their recreations, it might be their most pleasing and ordinary entertainment.

But for us who are Christians, to oblige us to think upon death, there is no need that a page should remind us every morning that we are mortal; or that the motto of a seal should put us in mind that we must die; or that a coffin should be placed in our chambers, there being many times more ostentation than true piety in such proceedings; nor is it necessary that a dead man's scull should be set before our eyes, or that a sepulchre should be hewn in our gardens. For as Alexander the Great knew himself to be mortal by the blood that flowed from his wounds; so the diseases to which we are subjected, and the hourly infirmities that we feel, sufficiently assure us, that we are in a frail and mortal state. As a celebrated philosopher, when he received the news of his only son's untimely death, answered the messenger with a settled countenance, I knew that I begot him a mortal man; so will the faithful say, without change of countenance, or the least sign of fear, I know that my mother conceived me a mortal man; I know that death is the tribute we must all pay to nature; and that it was this condition that I came into the world.

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If we will make use of any exterior helps, to engrave this lesson still more deeply on our minds, we must, in the first place, carefully practise the advice of the wise man, "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all "men, and the living will lay it to his heart," Eccles. ch. vii. 2. Never look upon a sick person breathing his last, or upon a dead corpse in its coffin, but remember

that this is an universal law unto which all mankind are subject; that it is the express image of thy own future condition.

I am also of opinion, that to make our last will, betimes, and to read it over frequently, may prove a very good and successful expedient, to reconcile to our minds the habitual thoughts of death; for as, when we meditate upon a farewell that we are going to take of our friends, we feel in our souls the very same emotions that happen to us at the moment of our separation; so, when we seriously meditate upon the last farewell, that we shall bid to this world, death, seems already upon our lips; or rather, we think ourselves already in the embraces of Jesus Christ, our ever blessed Redeemer.

Besides these things, which may be called extraordinary, I find nothing, either within or without us, nothing, that we see, feel, taste or smell, in short, nothing that passeth in our private or public conversation, which is not capable of recalling into our minds the consideration of death.

The flesh that thou eatest, the wool wherewith thou art clothed, the silk that adorns thee, and, in general, most of thy garments and ornaments, are the spoils of dead animals. The sight, therefore, of these, and all others of the same kind, should call to the remembrance thy frail and mortal state, and cause thee to meditate upon the preacher's saying, For that which befalleth beasts. befalleth the sons of men, even one thing befalleth them; as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath, so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast; for all is vanity: all go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again, Eccles. iii. 19, 20.

Never put off thy clothes, but remember that thou must shortly put off this miserable body; and when thou liest down in thy bed, think of the coffin in which thou must one day be stretched out. If thou art awake during the darkness of the night, consider that death will shortly come, and put out the taper of thy life.Let thy sleep be the image of thy death; and let it not fail to remind thee, that the time is drawing near, when thou must sleep in a bed of dust. When thou awakest think upon the delightful sound of the archangel's trumpet, that shall awaken thee from the sleep of death.Say within thyself, when thou arisest, perhaps I may never rise again till the Son of God shall come from heaven, and reach out his almighty arm to lift me from the grave. And when thou seest the rising sun, perhaps I may never again behold the rising of any sun, but the Son of Righteousness, with healing in his wings. Think as thou dressest, that the time is coming, when thou shalt assume a much more magnificent habit, and put on a robe of light and immortality. When thou sittest down to table, say to thyself, perhaps the hour is drawing near, in which death will feed upon my carcass: Perhaps I shall never again sit down to table, till I sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and with the blessed martyrs, who have washed and whitened their robes in the blood of the Lamb; perhaps I may never eat again, till 1 eat the bread of angels, and of the fruit of the tree of life; nor ever drink more, till I drink of the new wine in the kingdom of heaven, and of the waters of the river of eternal joys, that flow from the throne of God, and of the Lamb. Every time thou goest out of thy house, or changest thy habitation, reflect with thyself, that in a little time thou must depart out of this

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