thing beside. He was never weary of admiring the grand views of that sacred book, and the just relation of all its parts. He every day made discoveries in it, that gave him fresh cause of admiration. And so earnest was he for the comfort of his friends, and the diffusion of sacred knowledge among them, that even the day before he died "he particularly exhorted all about him to read the Holy Scriptures, exalting the love which God shewed to man in justifying him by faith in Jesus Christ, and returning him special thanks for having called him to the knowledge of that divine Saviour." To a person who asked him, which was the shortest and surest way for a young gentleman to attain to the true knowledge of the Christian religion, in the full and just extent of it, he replied Let him study the Holy Scripture, especially the New Testament. Therein are contained the words of eternal life.-It hath God for its authorSalvation for its end-and Truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.(6)" This is a noble testimony, both in life and in death, from this Christian philosopher. Many hundreds of a similar nature might be laid before the reader, besides those which we have already selected. And (6) Lavater, after predicting, like Newton and Hartley, the spread of infidelity, thus expresses himself concerning the truth of the gospel: "If God has not spoken and acted through Christ, then there never has been a God who hath acted and spoken. If Christ is the work of chance, then man and the whole world is the work of chance also. If Christ did not want the assistance of a God to the performance of his wonderful deeds. nature also can perform her works without the interference of a God." Compare with the above the death-bed scene of Garzo, the grand father of Petrarch, who was so celebrated for his probity and good sense, that he was frequently consulted by philosophers, and the learned of those times. "After living to the age of 104. in innocence and good works, he died, as Plato did, on the day of his birth, and in the bed in which he was born His death resembled a quiet sleep. He expired, surrounded by his family, without pain or uneasiness, while he was conversing about God and virtue.” there is no kind of reading, that is so edifying, as the final scenes of those persons, who have been eminent in their day, either for their virtues or their vices. A death bed is usually a detector of the heart. And to see a fellow mortal in the ruins of nature, glorying over the King of Terrors, in all his most horrible forms, is by far the grandest spectacle that can be exhibited upon earth. It is, as Seneca observes of Cato, a sight worthy of God to look down upon. What are all the triumphs of kings and conquerors, when compared with the triumphs of abundance of the children of the Most High in all ages? The Bible contains a rich compendium of these religious worthies. The Book of Martyrs records a noble army of valiant souls, who went through fire and water, through racks and tortures, to their blood-bought reward. So far as I myself am concerned, whether it shall please the gracious Ruler of the world to call me hence by a storm of persecution, by the enmity of secret adversaries, or in the natural course of Providence, I, above all things upon earth, desire to quit this mortal scene in a fiery chariot of divine love, and heavenly rapture. The celebrated Scaliger was se delighted with that stanza of Sternhold and Hopkins in the 18th psalm : "On Cherub and on Cherubim Full royally he rode; And on the wings of mighty winds Came flying all abroad:" that he used to profess, he had rather have been the author of it, than to have enjoyed the kingdom of Arragon. I have seen so many lukewarm Christians quit the world in such a doubting, timorous, uncomfortable, miserable manner, that I solemnly declare I had rather, if it please God, take my leave of this earthly tabernacle with my faith, hope, love, peace, and joy in full exercise, and go with all my sails unfurled into the haven of eternal rest, than be made emperor of the whole universe. I well know professions like these will subject me to the charge of intemperate zeal and enthusiasm. Such charges, however, I most cordially despise, and hold the philosophic authors of them in as much pity and contempt, as they can entertain for the warm and zealous Christian. I want not to quit the stage of life in the spirit of Bolingbroke, Hume, Gibbon, Chesterfield, Godwin, and other such like characters. The feeling, sensible, confident, joyful approbation of heaven, is above all estimation; and the praise of men of loose morals, or pharisaical professions, is of little consideration in my esteem. I wish them wiser and better, and that they may see their error before it is too late. Several of those worthy persons, whose names we have here recorded, died bearing a noble testimony to evangelical truth. Their condition was enviable. To many such I myself have been a joyful witness in the course of my poor ministrations. But the death-bed scene, which above all others I have either read or seen, that seems to have had in it the largest share of divine communications,(7) is that of the Rev. John Janeway, who died at the age of twenty-four, in June 1657. If it should appear too rapturous, consider, what your feelings would be, should news be brought that you were left heir to an estate of immense value, which you had but little reason to expect. If, when the Israelites had passed the red sea in safety, they saw it right to sing a song of triumph for their deliverance, and to praise the Lord with timbrels and with dances; if when the same people were delivered (7) The serious reader will find the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's influence upon the mind, ably defended against our modern luke.. warm professors of religion from the charge of enthusiasm, in Pearson on the Creed, a work with which every Christian should be intimately acquainted, in these times of abounding licentiousness both of principle and practice. from the Babylonish captivity, they "went out with joy, and were led forth with peace, the mountains and the hills breaking forth before them into singing, and all the trees of the field clapping their hands; if then the lame man leaped as an hart, the tongue of the dumb sung, and the ransomed of the Lord returned, and came to Sion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads, joy and gladness going before them, and sorrow and sighing fleeing away" at their advance: if when king David brought the ark, a symbol of the Divine presence, unto Sion, he danced before it in all his might, with shouting, and the sound of the trumpet, while the envious and malignant Michal severely censured his pious hilarity; if, when the same royal enthusiast (8) was only banished from the tabernacle of God, he affectionately cried out"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God: my soul is athirst for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?-My soul thirsteth for thee; my flesh geth for thee; my soul followeth hard after thee; my soul gaspeth after thee as a thirsty land:"and if, when this same enviable fanatic came to die, he again cried out in the full assurance of faith-" He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; this is all my salvation, and all my desire:" if, when the lame beggar, who had been healed by Peter and John, entered with them into the temple, he walked, and leaped, and praised God, the Scribes and Pharisees being all in arms against them: if, when Paul and Silas had been scourged and imprisoned for the name of the Lord Jesus, they prayed in the dungeon at midnight, and (8) It is a common mistake to suppose that none but religious people are enthusiasts. Enthusiasm is found in every form and species of human life. The orator and the poet, the hero and the politician, the intolerant advocate for toleration, and the projective defenders of Christianity, may all be enthusiasts. де sang praises unto God, for the honour conferred upon them, and in believing views of the reward which awaited them: and if, when Popery is overturned, the whole triumphant host is represented as crying aloud" Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!" If there has been, and would be, and ought to be, such ardent desire, and such rapturous joy and triumph upon all these very inferior occasions; shall not a man, who has long been buffeted by the world, allured and seduced by the flesh, and vilely tempted by the foul apostate Spirit; and who, notwithstanding, has for a good season been living under a strong and vigorous sense of the knowledge of salvation by the remission of his sins, and a sweet experimental union and communion with God, the father of spirits, through the infinitely perfect obedience and all-atoning death of his begotten Son, by the communications of the eternal Spirit; " rejoice in hope of the glory of God" with exceedingly great and triumphant joy,(9) when he is within sight of land, driving with the wind and tide into the haven of rest, just upon the point of taking assured possession of an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away?" (80) "What heart of stone, but glows at thoughts like these? (9) Why may not a man, who makes it his main concern in life, to serve God and save his soul alive, expect peculiar manifestations of the divine favour? It is certain that the promises of Scripture to this purpose are extremely strong and numerous, and the examples not less so. There are in the Bible upwards of an hundred of these special manifestations to the servants of God recorded. (80) Priestley considers these strong consolations in the views of approaching dissolution, as enthusiasm. |