in the first age of Christianity, depended, for their agency, on the lives of the Apostles; and the reformation of the church from popery, on the watchful care which was exercised by Divine Providence over such men as Wickliffe and Luther. And does not the prosperity of families, and the increase of separate churches in numbers and in piety, hang on the valuable lives of some of their members?

The precise time of our departure is the result of a wise and irrevocable decree. "Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days, also, like the days of an hireling ?" The sands in the hour-glass of life are all measured, and the moment they will cease to run is perceived by the eye of Omniscience. An event so solemn, and connected with such important consequences, is not left to mere casualty, or to fortuitous chance, but is the ordination of Infinite Wisdom. Our Lord informs his disciples, in general, that the Father "hath reserved the times and the seasons in his own power;" and Job, in a solemn address to God, says, "His days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass." "I trusted in thee, O Lord," says the Psalmist, "I said, thou art my God, my times are in thy hand." We shall live as long as the design of our being is accomplished, and, when

the hour of our departure arrives, neither the skill of art, nor the power of medicine, nor the change of climate, nor the soothing attentions of friends, can avail in delaying the execution of the sentence. The divine purpose, indeed, is concealed from us, and therefore we are justified in using all lawful means for the preservation of life; and to neglect the use of these means is to incur the guilt of self-destruction. Hezekiah is promised that his life should be prolonged fifteen years, and yet he is commanded to apply a lump of figs to the diseased part, in order that he may recover. And, while the Apostles are assured that the hairs of their head are all numbered, they are exhorted when persecuted in one city to flee unto

another.

Death has a commission with regard to the place where we die. Some die surrounded by the comforts and conveniences of home, and have the pains of a sick-bed alleviated by the soothing attentions of disinterested friendship. Others die on a journey, or strangers in a strange land, without a relative to cheer their last expiring hours, or pay the common rites of decent burial. Terah left Ur of the Chaldees with Abraham his son, and Lot his son's son, and Sarah his daughter-in-law, with a view of settling in the land of Canaan; but before he reached the place of his destination he died in Haran, far distant

from the scenes of his youth, and the altars of his religious worship. Some die on land, and are buried in the sepulchres of their fathers; while others perish at sea, and are entombed in the bosom of the ocean. We have read of some highly favoured individuals, who, on their knees, and in the act of devotion, have received their summons into the immediate presence of Jehovah, and have exchanged at once the wailing of confession, and the earnest tone of supplication, for the song of joy, and the harp of praise. Dr. Conyers, a faithful and zealous clergyman, had frequently expressed the wish that he might terminate his days of usefulness in the pulpit, and the desire of his heart was given to him: such also was the privilege of Mr. Bowden, a respectable dissenting minister. Others, awful to relate! have been called from scenes of amusement and dissipation, and even from the haunts of impurity and vice, to render a strict account of their actions at the dread tribunal of their Judge. Oh, then, let us recollect that wherever we are, we may be on the confines of eternity! that the lonely field or the crowded city, the domestic fire-side or the busy exchange, may be the place of our dissolution. When we retire to rest, our slumbers may prove to be the sleep of death, and our bed may become our tomb; and when we go forth from our habitation in the morning, we may only visit it again to be dressed for our last narrow house.

How important then is habitual preparation for death! It is of little consequence where we die; but how inconceivably desirable that the soul should be fitted for the enjoyment of a blessed immortality, and that the body should slumber in grave, in sure and certain hope of a resurrection to eternal life!

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The manner of our death is also the subject of the divine determination. By far the greater part of mankind are taken away by slowly progressive and lingering diseases. Their passage to the tomb is gradually sloped before them; and from the commencement of their affliction to its close, they can say, "I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living." Some, however, are removed so suddenly as to oblige us to exclaim, “He passed away, and lo, he was not; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found!" And of their bereaved families we say, "How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment, as a dream when one awaketh!" There are still others who meet with their death by one of those providential occurrences which happen out of the common course of nature. They neither sicken with disease, nor bend beneath the pressure of infirmity; but are cut off in the midst of their days by the hand of violence, or by, what the world calls, some sudden casualty. They go forth to their

labour in the morning, or industriously engage in their usual avocations and pursuits, and by some mysterious event in providence, are brought home, either emaciated in person, or cold and ghastly corpses. This is only a different mode of departure out of the world, and it is either permitted or appointed by Him who is excellent in counsel and wonderful in working. Whether we die in the land of peace, or amid the din of arms and garments rolled in blood; whether we perish by the devouring famine or the noisome plague; whether we are struck dead by the lightning's flash, or are torn in pieces by the wild beasts of the forest; whether we are engulphed in the waters, or consumed by the flames; these different creatures and elements are only agents in the hand of the Great Eternal. "A certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host, for I am wounded." This would be deemed by some one of the chances of war; but it was intended to fulfil the prophecy of Elijah, and as a punishment for the guilty temerity and wickedness of Ahab. "Is there evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?" In reading the history of Josiah, a young prince of extraordinary excellence, who has not regretted the rashness which induced him to give battle to the king of Egypt,

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