of Time; And from them all, let them Produce but one Single Instance, of a Man that Has Lived well, and virtuoufly All his Days, and is Sorry for it at his Death: Diffatisfy'd with himself for it, Troubled at his well-spent Life, and Terrify'd with the Remembrance of it at the Dying Hour; And could Wish that he had Lived otherwise ; In the Ways of Sin and Wickedness. No; Death-bed Wishes and Declarations are quite of another Strain: However, Men Have Lived, they could Wish at least, that they Had Lived the Life of the Righteous, as they would now be glad to Dye the Death of the Righteous, and have their Last End like His.

Which that we may All have, God of his Infinite Mercy Grant, thro Jesus Christ our Lord.

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SERMON II.

The Difference betwixt the Death of the Wicked and the Death of the Righ

teous.

NUM. XXIII. Part of the 10th Verse.

Let me dye the Death of the Righteous, and let my Last End be like His.

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HE Words are a Part of Balaam's Parable, whom I confider'd as a Man that for Worldly Advantages acted against the Dictates of his own Mind. But though he was kept off by Worldly Confiderations from Living the Life of the Righteous, yet he could not but account them Happy, and wish that

he

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he might Dye the Death of the Righteous and have bis Last End like Theirs.

From whence I confidered,

I. That Men Naturally have proper Notions and Just Sentiments of Good and Evil; And whether they will Practise Honesty, Virtue, and Piety, or not, yet they cannot but have a good Opinion of them.

II. I confidered what the Motives and Reasons are that can make Men practise contrary to their Judgments. And

III. That tho' the Wicked will not Live as the Righteous Man does, yet they would be glad to Dye with him, and have their Last End like His.

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Pursuant to what has been said, especially on the Last General Head, I shall now proceed to confider,

I. What the great Difference is betwixt the Death of the Wicked, and the Death of the Righteous, that should make the One appear Dreadful, and the Other very Defirable.

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II. If the Death of the Righteous be fo very Defirable, we will confider, how far it concerns every one of us, to take care to be well Prepared for it. And

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III. I

III. I shall offer some Rules, by which I conceive we may best Prepare Ourselves for a Happy Death.

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I. We are to consider what the great *Difference is betwixt the Death of the Wicked, and the Death of the Righteous, that should make the One appear Dreadful, and the Other so Defirable.

Now the Difference cannot lye in the Nature of the thing: For as it is appointed to all Men to Dye, so the Nature of Death is the same to All, the Separation of Soul and Body, and the Consignment of each of them to their proper Places, there to abide till they shall be again re-united at the Judgment-Day. This is the Common Lot of Mankind, the same to the Just and to the Unjust.

But the true Difference lies in the Moral Circumstances of their Death, which we may confider, (according to distinct Order of Time,) as they respect the Time Past, or Present, or to Come: For so we find Men's Thoughts work on their Death-beds; When Death presents itself in View, they think it Time to look about them: Their anxious Thoughts run backwards and forwards, working every Way; in Reflections on their Past Actions, in Confideration of their Prefent Condition, and in Solicitous Apprehen

sions of their future State: And all these adminifter great Joy and Comfort to the Righteous, which the Wicked are wofully Destitute of.

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First, One great Difference betwixt the Death of the Wicked, and the Death of the Righteous, is the Different Reflections they have to make on their Past Actions.

Men in the Spring tide of their Age, whilft all goes well with them, whilst their Blood runs High, and they have their Spirits gay and sprightly, their Veins full of Blood, and their Bones of Marrow, are too Airy to be confined to Rules, and think it a Meanness of Spirit to Live under the Awe of any Scrupulous Fears. In this Youthful Heat and Bravery, Conscience is overborn and brought into Subjection, and made to truckle to the Dominion of Sin. But as Young Men, stout and hardy, in the Prime and Vigour of their Age, think they are able to bear out any thing by the Natural Strength of their Constitution, and care not therefore what Stress they lay upon it; yet do afterwards feel the hard Strains, or Blows and Bruises that they received, and thoughr they had conquered in their Youth: So when Men in the Madness of their Youth will make bold with their Confcience, laying Load upon Load, they may footh, or stifle,