of tliem thou wilt find poor and persecuted, yet Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren, neither must thou. If thou findest thy heart now in such a dispo- sition as suits these interrogatories, I dare not deny the banns ; yea, I dare not but pronounce Christ and thee husband and wife. Go, poor soul, (if I may call so glorious a bride poor,) go and comfort thyself with the expectation of thy Bridegroom's coming for thee ; and when the evil day approaches, and death itself draws nigh, look not now with terror upon it, but rather revive with old Jacob, to see the chariot which shall carry thee over unto the embraces of thy Husband, whom thou hearest to be in so great honour and majesty in heaven, as may assure thee he is able to make thee welcome when thou comest there. Amongst the ' all things' which are ours by being Christ's, the apostle forgets not to name this to be one, ' death is ours:' and well he did so, or else we should never have looked upon it as a gift, but rather as a judgment. Now, soul, thou art out of any danger of hurt that the evil day can do thee. Yet there remains something for thee to do, that thou mayest walk in the com- fortable expectation of the evil day. We see that gracious persons may, for want of a holy care, fall into such distempers, as may put a sting into their thoughts of the evil day. David, that at one time would not fear ' to walk in the valley of the shadow of death,' is so affrighted at another time, when he is led towards it, that he cries, ' Spare me, () Lord, that I may recoA^er my strength, before I go hence,' Psa. xxxix. The child, though he loves his father, may do that which may make him afraid to go home. Now, Christian, if thou wouldst live in a comfortable expectation of the evil day.
First, Labour to die to this life, and the enjoyments of it, every day, more and more. Death is not so sti-ong to him, whose natural strength has been wasted by long pining sickness, as it is to him that lies but a few days, and has strength of nature to make great resistance. Truly, thus it is here : that Christian, whose love to this life and the contents of it hath been for many years consuming and dying, will with more facility part with them, than he whose love is stronger to them. All Christians are not mortified in the same degree to the world. Paul tells us he died daily, he was ever sending more and more of his heart out of the world ; so that by that time he came to die, all his affections were packed up and gone, which made him the more ready to follow: ' I am ready to be offered up,' 2 Tim. iv. 6. If it be but a tooth to pull out, the faster it stands, the more pain we have to draw it. O loosen the roots of thy affections from the world, and the tree will fall more easily.
Secondly, Be careful to approve thyself with diligence and faithfulness to God in thy place and calling. The clearer thou standest in thy own thoughts, concerning the uprightness of thy heart in the tenure of thy Christian course, the more composure thou wilt have when the evil day comes. ' I beseech thee, O Lord,' saith good Hezekiah at the point of death, as he thought, ' remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight.' This cannot be our confidence, but it will be a better companion than a scolding conscience : if the blood be bad, the spirits will be tainted also : the more our life hath been corrupted with hypocrisy and unfaithfulness, the weaker our faith will be in a dying hour. There is great difference between two children that come home at night; one from the field, where he hath been diligent and faithful about his father's work, and another that hath played the tmiant a great part of the day ; the former comes in confidently to stand before his father, the other sneaks to bed, and is afraid his father should see him, or ask him where he hath been. O, sirs, look to your walking : these have been trying times as ever came to England ; it has required more care and courage to keep sincerity than formerly. And that is the reason why it is so rare to find Christians, especially those whose place and calling hath been more in the wind of temptation, go off the stage at death with such a plaudit of inward peace in their bosoms.
Thirdly, Familiarize the thoughts of the evil day to thy soul ; handle this serpent often ; walk daily in the serious meditations of it; do not run from them because they are unpleasing to flesh: that is the way to increase the terror of it. Do with your souls, when shy of, and scared with the thoughts of affliction or death, as you use to do with your beast that is given to boggle and start as you
IN THE EVIL DAY. Jg3