" broken cisterns that can hold no water p." All that they possess is mere " vanity and vexation of spirit." " Even in lauffhtcr their heart is sorrowful ; and the end of their mirth is heaviness "i." But is it thus with the true Christian? Has not he peace in his soul, and " joys, with which the stranger intermeddleth nof ?" Yes, he " has already entered into rest^:" he has a tranquillity arising from the subjugation of his passions : he has a holy composure of mind springing from the testimony of a good conscience*: he has many sweet manifestations of God's love to his soul : he has that within him which mitigates every sorrow, enhances every enjoyment, and supplies his every want. In a word, from committing his soul, and all his concerns, to God, he has " a peace that passeth all understanding." This peace, we say, flows from the very exercises of religion, and is, more or less, an in- separable attendant on them. To this effect the inspired writers uniformly speak. The Psalmist observes, " Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them"." To the same purpose Isaiah also says, " The work of righteousness is peace, and the effect of righteousness is quietness and assurance for ever^:" and St. Paul confirms their testimony, saying, " To be carnally-minded is death ; but to be spiritually-minded is life and peace y."]
2. In death —
[Even in the time of health the ungodly cannot bear to think of death : conversation upon that awful subject is irk- some and disgusting to them : they avoid it, because it makes them melancholy. If they be attacked with any fatal disease, their friends do all that they can to abate their fears, and to hide from them the real state of their disorder. When at last they come to feel their danger, then they are full of alarm and terror ; and, however much they despised the duties of religion before, will then begin to pay attention to them. There are some indeed so blinded by their own delusions, that they believe themselves safe ; while others are so callous as to be altogether insensible of their awful condition. But if men are not wholly blinded by conceit, or hardened by wickedness, they camiot but tremble at the approach of death : and then the hopes which they once fondly entertained, give way to painful forebodings, even to " a fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indigna- tion." On the contrary, he who hath walked in wisdom's ways, is enabled in the midst of life to look forward to death, (like a bridegroom to his approaching nuptials,) as to the period, when all his desires shall be fulfilled, and his joys consummated. As
P Jer. ii. 13. i Eccl.ii.2. Prov.xiv. 13. ^ pj-ov. xiv. 10.
s Heb. iv. 3. t o Cor. i. 12. " Ps. cxix. 165.
* Isai. xxxii. 17. " Rom. viii. 6.