But this is not all. Care, prudence, circumspection, and confidence in God, are not only indispensably necessary to secure to us a safe and happy pilgrimage through life; but they are likewise the best, the only preparatives for an happy and comfortable death.
As strangers and sojourners, we ought to live under a constant expectation of being called home to our native country. This expectation will be either pleasing or painful, according as we are more or less prepared for the awful summons. The summons we cannot dispense with: the time in which it may be pronounced, is altogether uncertain.
Some of us, within a very few years, and some, perhaps, within a very few days, may behold the curtain drop, and shut out every scene of temporal nature from our view. With respect to us, "the heavens and the earth will then pass away with a mighty noise; the sun will be darkened, and the moon turned into blood; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken." Death, judgment, heaven, or hell, will then be realized to our disembodied spirits. "He that is holy will be holy still, and he that is filthy will be filthy still." The dissolution of this outward body will close the season of Divine Grace; the hopes or the fears, the happiness or the misery of man will be determined by his expiring breath; and his GOD will be manifested to him, either in the mild majesty of his Love, or in the consuming fire of his Wrath.
What adds to the solemnity of this dread moment, is the frequent suddenness of its approach. The king of terrors often knocks at the door, when the master of the house is by no means prepared for the awful visit. Nay, he frequently passes by the habitations of age, infirmity, and distress, and thunders forth his tremendous summons in the ears of the young, the gay, and the robust. Neither superior fortune, nor superior station, can protract the fleeting date of life. The monarch tumbles from his throne; and, after the momentary honours of a pompous funeral, makes his bed in the dust, and lies there as poor and undistinguished as the late tenant of the homely cottage. Even piety and virtue cannot screen their votaries from death's unerring shaft; but he is sometimes permitted to snatch away the most amiable patterns of both, in order to awaken the attention, or chastise the carelessness, of their friends and neighbours.
Happy would it be for mankind, if these frequent indiscriminate strokes did but produce a more general and serious attention to "the things that belong to their peace:" and happy for you, my dear brethren, if the solemn truths that have now been delivered, are permitted to have a due weight and influence on your lives and practice!
Examine yourselves, then, by these principles. Look well into the present state of your souls. Be these important reflections continually present to your minds—that you are but "strangers and sojourners upon earth;" that every object, that attracts and engages your desires and affections here, must very shortly be removed from you for ever; that it is folly and madness to take up your rest in such poor perishable things, as the present world affords, inasmuch as death must soon put an end to their shadowy forms, and translate you to a world, where all is real—all is eternal.
Do not deceive yourselves. A gay and thoughtless life is no suitable preparation for death. The heart must be gradually estranged from the vanities of time, before it can turn its desires towards the riches of eternity. You have heard of the difficulties you may expect to meet with, of the enemies you will have to encounter, on your way to heaven. Up then, and be doing. No time is to be lost. Every moment is precious: "it carries Heaven on its wing." The victory is secure, if you will but arm yourselves for the conflict. Your Heavenly Father is perpetually drawing and inviting you to enter the lists, and contend for the prize. His Eternal SON hath promised to be with you, and in you. And the blessed Spirit, proceeding from both, will inspire you with all that celestial strength and ardour, which alone can render you "more than conquerors." Thus are you furnished, from the armoury of heaven, with a divine panoply, which, upon trial, you will find impenetrable to "all the fiery darts of the wicked."
"Fear not, then, thou worm, Jacob! Be not dismayed, for thy God is with thee!" Blessed encouragement, this! What though you are strangers and sojourners upon earth, yet remember for your consolation, that you are strangers and sojourners with God—"For I am a stranger and sojourner WITH THEE."
O MY brethren! what ineffable peace and satisfaction would spring up in your hearts, could you once realize to yourselves, could you once feel, the perpetual presence of an Omnipotent God, travelling with you on the journey of life, supplying all your wants, supporting you under all your difficulties and distresses, and, with the affectionate fondness of a father, minutely entering into all your real interests and concerns! To know, that you are his offspring, fallen indeed, but redeemed by his Blessed Son: that his love for you is so ardent, that "whoso toucheth you his children, toucheth the apple of his eye; that in all your afflictions he is afflicted, and that the angel of his presence saves and delivers you; that he will never leave you comfortless, but will be with you always, even to the end of the world!" These are such sweet and delightful assurances, as you could never have collected from the vain reasonings of worldly philosophy, or the vain confidence, which many pretend to derive from mere unassisted human virtue.
Upon this ground you may rest secure; and, in the strength of an Almighty arm, bid defiance to the open assaults, or secret stratagems of the enemies of your peace. Whilst the Sun of Righteousness continues to impart his chearing beams, and fountains of living water spring up on every side to refresh the weary pilgrim, you may pursue your journey through the Valley of Baca, with peace and confidence; you may "lift up your heads with joy, as the Ransomed of the Lord;" and "proceed from strength to strength, till you appear before the God of Gods in Sion."