and misery; I take it, as if thou hadst done me many years' service: I have abridged thy days, ́but not thy life: I have shortened thy toiling, but not thy reward. And oh what a blessed thing it is, that he takes the task of many weary years service off my hand! My warfare is ended; oh the joyful change I am undergoing! when shall I see Him as he is? when shall I get my fill of lovely Jesus? Oh his beauty, his beauty, his beauty! Men and angels may admire the freeness of his grace, and admire it, and ever admire it! but what can they say, or comprehend of it? Oh the freeness of his grace! that he should admit the like of me to stand eternally before him, and to be for ever in his presence; to be one of his honourable train; nay, to enjoy him, as near as can be. O think ye, I lose any thing, who get the forestart, and become possessor of that inheritance? the inheritance of many a more excellent and ancient saint than I; nay, the inheritance of the Heir of all things? It is little of heaven I know, being obscured with mortality, and living by faith, and not by sight: but oh, to think of the expressions of Scripture concerning it! "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for those that love him," 1 Cor. ii. 13. If heaven could be conceived by us, I should not so much esteem it. But oh it is a massy thing! Oh strange! that God should make bits of mortal men (and what a poor worthless thing man is, let any behold in a dying and dead carcase) not only as happy as we can desire, or conceive, but as happy as can be! Oh the beholding of the face

of the Ancient of days! But I know in whom I have believed, and that he is able to present me spotless before the Father, with exceeding great joy. If I perish, let him see to his promise; I have laid all upon him: if I perish, (through the strength of my Lord, by whom I can do all things,) I shall perish believing. I expect much of heaven, more than I can conceive; but oh I think I shall be exceedingly deceived, (oh sweet deceit!) for I shall find more than ten thousand worlds can comprehend. I shall see my Father ere long: many sweet days have he and I had upon earth; many innumerable ages shall we have in heaven together. Oh heaven! oh the difference betwixt this melancholy, smoky inn, and the magnificent hall of glory! Oh the change I am undergoing! I go from the twilight of the sun and moon, to the noon-day of the splendour of glory; from a dunghill to a throne; from bodily infirmities, distresses, diseases, and pains, to a land, where the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; from wearisome labour and toiling, into an inconceivable sweet paradise, where I shall rest for evermore; from a mortal company, to an innumerable immortal company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant," Heb. xii. 22-24. Oh what think you, to be eternally, even for ever and ever, among such sweet company! Are there any more honourable, and amiable company, than they? Oh, what shall I say? what shall I think? that filthy and

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unworthy I should show my face among so glorious an assembly. What is here, but vanity and grief of heart? Oh do you not long to be gone, to be in that sweet and inconceivable paradise! Cast your anchor within the veil, and then you need not fear death, come when it will. But, oh long life, or death rather! for the sooner at our journey's end the better; and the longer we are clogged with sin and misery, the worse, but the more we will love to linger in this Sodom. It is hard to get our hearts drawn quite off time; we look kindly to the bastard's inheritance; and therefore we abhor death, and can agree to wait for heaven longer than for any thing else. But if we could get a sight of the King in his beauty, and of the land that is afar off, then, oh to be gone! oh to be up above these visible heavens, and amongst those glistering companies, who enjoy him to the full! Oh, if man knew how vain a world this is! Oh but they are happy, and inconceivably happy, who escape fairly the temptations, snares, and difficulties that are in this valley of tears, and who are fairly landed on that odoriferous, flowery land, on that delightful land, which infinite and eternal love did contrive to be the royal theatre, whereon should be shown, to men and angels, the height and breadth, depth and length, of that love which passeth understanding, Ephes. iii. 19. If you run fast, you cannot be long behind me; and we shall see one another immediately death is no separation to the saints; for time is nothing: for what is it to be separated for a few hours, to them that are to dwell eternally together? what is transient

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time to a never-ending eternity of joys? Death is far mistaken by the most part of saints, they have a wrong conception of it; it is a sweet repose to a weary soul, and looseth the soul from the bands of mortality, letting it out from a filthy, stinking prison into the sweet and fragrant air of glory it ends all sorrows and sighings, and begins unspeakable joys: it is but a dark cloud ushering in the bright dawning of eternal glory. Oh, but my Lord has excellently ordered the circumstances of my death! Oh I admire his love! I could tell many sweet passages of providences he has cast in my way; but I delay, until I be sitting upon the brink of the river of life; and then I shall number them. I cannot now praise him; alas! that I am so stupid and dull; but I shall praise him anon, I shall eternally praise him! "O be glad, and rejoice in our God!" Oh sweet! that poor dying, miserable I was not left to uncertainties, not to know what to do; but to have such a sweet and kind Lord to repose on! Had I stayed longer in this wretched life, I was resolved to have shown myself as faithful to you as I could: but I commit you unto his grace, who has cared for me, even unto death: commit yourself to him, he will bring all to a good issue that is trusted to him. We are not our own; therefore we are not to dispose of ourselves. Christ is a good Tutor and Governor, and carries all those well through, that commit themselves to him. See that Mary neglect not seeking of God, praying, reading of the Scriptures; let her not frequent ill company. Oh the worth of a soul! and the reward of those that are instrumental in gaining

a soul! Our bodies must go to the dust; but our souls are of more worth than ten thousand worlds. I am not able to say more, I am so weak. Oh! run fast, death is at the door. We are all stepping into eternity; what is time, but a preparation for it? Overlook time, and live, as daily dying, as one that must pass away immediately, and never be here any more. They build castles in the air, who imagine any rest here let worldlings dream of rest here; ours is above; our hearts are gone; and we are dead to the world. Farewell for a few days. These are the words of your dying son,

A. WELWOOD.

II. A LETTER TO HIS BROTHER JAMES.

Dear Brother,

I HOPE the last words of your brother, who is now stepping into eternity, will have some weight with you; and this consideration will make you not to neglect them. Know you why you came into the world? I am sure, and you are as sure, not to eat, and drink, and pass away your time in earthly business; but to get the work of your salvation well wrought and finished, before death assault you. It is most uncertain, and steals upon men, as a thief in the night," when they are secure, never dreaming of such a great change: though truly my gracious Lord lets me see death still approaching nearer and nearer, that I may draw ever nearer and nearer him who is life.

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