send his holy angels to bring them safe home to the purchased possession. Heaven and earth shall be witnesses of his care, and of the value which he puts upon them.

Lastly, Let us always remember, that in all our approaches to God as humble worshippers, we join with the holy angels, and bear our part in the heavenly concert. O, that our hearts may be daily preparing to sing with them on the heights of Zion, the endless praises of "him that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood, to whom be glory for ever. Amen."

THE CERTAINTY OF DEATH.

For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.—Job xxx. 23.

THESE Words contain a general truth, and a particular application of it. The general truth is supposed, viz. That all men must die. But whither must they go? "To the house appointed for all living:" to the grave, that gloomy solitary house, in the land of forgetfulness. All living men must be inhabitants of this house. They who now live in palaces, and they who have not where to lay their heads. Job seems to intimate in the text, that we have no life in this world, but as runaways from death, which stretcheth out its cold arms to receive us from the womb; but though we do then narrowly escape, we cannot escape long; we shall be brought back again to it. Job knew this; "For I know that thou wilt bring me to death,"

I. The certainty of death. All must die. Although this doctrine be confirmed by the experi ence of all former generations, ever since Abel entered

the house appointed for all living;" and though the living know that they shall die, yet it is needful to discourse on the certainty of death, that it may be impressed on the mind, and duly considered. Wherefore, consider,

1. There is an unalterable statute of death, under which men are included. "It is appointed unto men once to die." There is no peradventure in it; we must needs die. Though some men will not hear of death, yet every man must see death. We must enter the lists with it, and it will have the mastery. “There is no man hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit." Those who are found alive at Christ's coming, shall receive a change equivalent to death.

2. If we consult daily observation. Every one seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and brutish person. It is long since death began to transport men into another world, and vast multitudes are gone thither already; yet death is carrying off new inhabitants daily, "to the house appointed." Who could ever hear the grave say, It is enough? This world is like a great fair, or market, where some are coming in, others going out; while the assembly that is in it are confused, and many know not wherefore they are assembled; or, like a town situated on the road to a great city, through which some travellers are past, some are passing, while others are only coming in ; Death is an inex

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one generation passeth away." orable, irresistible messenger, who cannot be diverted from executing his orders, by the force of the mighty, the bribes of the rich, nor the intreaties of the poor. It doth not reverence the hoary head, nor: pity the harmless babe. The bold and daring cannot outbrave it, nor can the fainthearted obtain a discharge,

3. The human body consists of perishing principles: "Dust thou art." The strongest are but little earthen vessels. The body is not a house of stone, but a house of clay; the mud walls cannot but moulder away, seeing the foundation is in the dust. When we consider the structure of our bodies, death has as many doors to enter in by, as the body hath pores. Though the lamp of our life be not violently blown out, yet the flame must at length go out, for want of oil. And what are all the diseases, to which we are liable, but the harbingers of death,

4. We have sinful souls, and therefore have dying bodies; death follows sin, as the shadow follows the body. “In the day that thou eatest thereof." Not only the wicked, but the godly must die too; Christ hath taken the sting of death from believers. Wherefore, though death fasten on them, as the viper did on Paul's hand, it will do them no harm.

5. Man's life in this world is but a few degrees removed from death. The scripture represents it as vain and empty, short in continuance, and swift in its passage.

1. Vain and empty! While it is, it vanisheth away, and, lo! it is not; "my days are vanity." If you suspect afflicted Job in this matter, hear the wise and prosperous Solomon. "All things have I seen, in the days of my vanity," i. e. my vain days. Moses compares them to a sleep: "They are a sleep," Few men have right apprehensions of life until death awakens them. "We spend our years as a tale that is told." It is a dream, a vision of the night. "He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found; yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night." It is but a vain show. Surely man is a vain show,"

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The several periods of our life are vanity."Childhood and youth are vanity." Our childhood is spent in trifling pleasures, which become the scorn of our own after-thoughts. Youth is a flower that soon withereth, a blossom that quickly falls off; and, ere we are awake, it is past; and we are in middle age, encompassed with a thick cloud of cares, and find ourselves beset with pricking thorns of difficulties. Then comes old age, attended with its own train of infirmities, labour, and sorrow, and sets us down next door to the grave. In a word, every stage or period of life is vanity. "Man at his best estate is vanity." Death carries off some in the bud of childhood, others in the blossom of youth, and others when they come to their fruit; few are left standing till, like ripe corn, they forsake the ground.

2. Short. It is not only vanity, but a short-lived vanity. The life of man in the scriptures was sometimes reckoned by hundreds of years, now hundreds are brought down to scores; threescore and ten, or fourscore, is its utmost length. Yet, as if years were too big a word for the life of man, we find it counted by months: "The number of his months are with thee;" our course is like that of the moon. But frequently it is reckoned by days, and those but few: "Man that is born of a woman is of few days." Nay, it is accounted but one day: "Till he shall accomplish as an hireling his day." Yea, the scripture brings it down to the shortest space of time, 66 a moment; our light afflictions." Nay, the Psalmist carries it to the lowest pitch: "Mine age is as nothing before thee." Agreeably to this, Solomon tells us, "There is a time to be born, and a time to die;” but makes no mention of a time to live.

Consider also the various similitudes by which the scripture represents the brevity, or shortness of man's life. Hear Hezekiah, "Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent." Man is like grass: "All flesh is grass," and like the flower of the field, exposed to the foot of every beast. James proposeth the question, “What is your life?" Hear his own answer, “It is even a vapour." It is as smoke that goeth out of the chimney. As the wind: "O remember that my life is wind." Our breath is in our nostrils, as if always on the wing to depart.

3. Swift as a shadow it passeth away: "He flieth as a shadow, and continueth not." As a weaver's shuttle, "Our days are swifter than the weaver's shuttle." See how Job describes the swiftness of the time of life: "Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. They are hasted away as the swift ships; as the eagle that hasteth to the prey." Yet the wind faileth, the ship's course is marred; but our time is always running with a rapid

course.

Improvement.

1. Let us hence, as in a glass, behold the vanity of the world; look into the grave, listen to the doctrine of death, and learn,

2. This world is a false friend, who leaves a man in time of greatest need.

1. That hold as fast as thou canst, thou shalt be forced to let go thy hold.

2. It may serve as a storehouse for Christian contentment, and patience under worldly crosses and losses. "Naked came I out of my mother's womb," &c. "There the wicked cease from troubling. There the prisoners rest together, they hear not the voice of the up