SECTION IV.

HELPS FOR LIVING AND DYING HOLILY; AS LIKEWISE HELPS IN REGARD TO THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE SICK, AND THE ATTENDANTS ON THE SICK.

Helps for living while in health, so as to be in a constant state of preparation for sickness.

1. SINCERELY repent of every known sin; for it is sin which gives death its sting; and pardon is promised to sincere repentance.

2. Trust your soul with all its interests in the hands of Jesus Christ on the terms of the Gospel. He is the owner of it by the right of redemption. To save souls is his proper office, work, and even covenant. He intercedes in heaven, and prepares mansions there.

3. Devote yourself entirely to God, and live to please him, and to do good to all around you. Thus your conscience will bear witness on a sick bed, that notwithstanding all your infirmities, you have answered the great ends of life.

4. Take heed of quenching the spirit. (1 Thess. v. 19.) Whatever good we do, either in sickness or health, it must be by the assistance of that divine agent. If we cease to pray for it, (see Luke xi. 13.) and resist its gracious influences, it will withdraw from us; and we shall gradually lose our love to holiness, and grow indifferent to the things of God.

5. Live continually in a thankful sense of the love of God to your own soul. Daily consider the greatness of that love, both in the nature of God, and in the blessings of the Gospel; and likewise in your own particular experience of his love. This will make heaven desirable, and overcome the fears of death.

6. Live in heaven while you are on earth by

frequent meditation on it. A great part of preparation for sickness lies in this. If you are a stranger to heaven in health, you will be too much so in sickness. If you are risen with Christ, you will seek those things which are above. "Where your "treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matt. vi. 21.

7. Live a life of self-denial. Let nothing in this world be too dear and pleasing to you. If you are over-fond of any thing here, parting will be more difficult. Endeavour to lessen your attachment to it by the consideration that you must soon leave that, or else that that will soon leave you.

8. Get some good assurance of your own sincerity. If you doubt this, it will excite your fear, and make you dread a sick bed, and be unwilling to die. Examine your repentance, faith, love, and every Christian grace, once every

week.

9. Keep your worldly affairs in as settled a state as the nature of them will permit, and never be without a will: sickness is not a proper time to make wills.

10. Be serious, and then you "will be wise, and "consider your latter end."

A solemn Declaration of the disposition in which a man would wish to be found in sickness or at death; and which ought to be frequently (suppose weekly or monthly) and devoutly made, as in the presence of God.

My Lord and my God, in this uncertainty of the time, place, and manner of my death, I desire to adore thy providence in every thing which thou shalt be pleased to appoint concerning me; and not knowing in what circumstances I may be at that awful hour, I will do at present what I desire should be done then. And I humbly beseech thee favourably to receive this declaration then, which I solemnly make before thee now.

As in the last moments of my life I may be de

prived of speech and reason, and unable either to speak or think of thee, I here thank thee, O Lord, that thou hast given me life; whereas I might never have been created, and consequently never could have been a candidate (as I now am) for admission into thy kingdom of glory.

I thank thee that I was born in a Christian country, whereas I might have been born in a land where thy Gospel is yet unknown.

I adore thee as the fountain not only of my natural, but of my spiritual life. Thou art truth, and I believe what thou hast declared by thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Thou art faithfulness, and I trust in the performance of thy promises. Thou art the supreme God, and I desire to love thee supremely now and for ever.

It is thou, O Lord, who hast created me by an effect of thy power, redeemed me by an act of thy love, sanctified me by thy grace, conducted me by thy providence, and designed me for heaven: for this end thou hast admitted me into thy church by baptism, guided me by thy word, refreshed me by the sacramental bread and wine, and comforted me with the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit.

Many and great are the mercies I have received. "Thou daily loadest me with thy benefits." Yet how unsuitable have been my returns to thee! Ingratitude, vain-glory, impatience, unbelief, and innumerable other sins.

But, O my God, the greater my offences, the greater will be thy glory in pardoning them. Sins innumerable, such as mine, stand in need of abundant mercies, such as thine.

I plead therefore, O Lord, thy boundless mercies in Christ Jesus, and am truly sorry that I have provoked thee so long, known thee so late, and loyed thee so little.

Here in thine awful presence, O Lord, I declare my detestation of all my sins both of heart and

H

life, because they are contrary to thy holiness, and abominable in thy sight.

And I offer thee, O Lord, for reparation of the outrages of my sins against thee and my fellowcreatures, the love, obedience, and merits of thy Son, my only Saviour; and I submit to death, as justly merited for my sins, having been disobedient, and therefore most justly condemned to suffer death. But spare me, O Lord, spare thy servant, redeemed by thy Son's most precious blood, that I may not suffer everlasting punishment.

I submit to the destruction of the body, which has been the instrument of so many sins; I submit to the destruction of it in obedience to thy dominion over me. I submit to all the desertions, troubles, pains, agonies, and all the evils thou hast reserved for my offences. It is my earnest prayer, that I may be enabled by such a submission to shew, that I devote myself wholly to thee in life and in death.

And I humbly beseech thee, O Lord, to remember, that I am the work of thy hands, and redeemed by thy Son's death. He died, and encourages me to follow him. He loved me, and I desire to love him. I solemnly declare my belief in the glorious Gospel, the terms of which I thankfully embrace. I renounce all self-confidence, and have no hope of salvation but in the merits of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

If there be any thing which may arise in me contrary to this, I disown it; for it is my earnest desire, that the last motion of my heart may be one of adoration, offering up to thee the homage of my whole being. May it be likewise a motion of love to thee, and to the Lord Jesus Christ, and may that love be continued to all eternity!

When I think on what I should have been, and on what I have been, I am confounded. "Lord, save me, or I perish." I am under great fears,

66

because my sins are so great, and thy judgments so terrible yet notwithstanding my fears, my hopes are greater, because thou art merciful, and hast promised forgiveness through Jesus Christ to every penitent sinner. Oh! that my repentance may be sincere, and that I may not deceive myself by supposing I am penitent, when I am not.

My faith is weak: Lord, strengthen it, that I may rely more fully on thy promises, and so be numbered with thy saints in glory everlasting.

I again adore thy power, which created me; thy goodness, which redeemed me; thy wisdom, which has enlightened me; thy providence, which has governed me; thy mercy, which has so often pardoned me. I adore also thy justice, and submit myself to it, as it has decreed death for the punishment of sin.

And I submit with the hope, that thy mercy in Christ Jesus will answer for me before the tribunal of thy justice; and that thou wilt for his sake receive me into thy kingdom of glory; there to praise thee, and the great Redeemer, through all the boundless ages of eternity.

N. B. This declaration partly expresses the disposition in which every real Christian desires always to be found, especially at the hour of death. He prays that his mind may then be strongly impressed with a true sorrow for sin, and a fervent love for God, and his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

The fear of death decreases in proportion as our faith in the Redeemer increases: but great caution is necessary, lest our faith should be presumption only. Let it be remembered, that, as "without "faith it is impossible to please God," (Heb. xi. 6.) so "without holiness no man shall see the "Lord." (Heb. xii. 14.)