Death.— I. Its Certainty and Uncertainty.
Having considered the heinousness of sin, it is now proper to apply the remedies against it, among which none are more efficacious than the meditation of the four last things, and first of death.
I. Death is absolutely inevitable and certain. " It is appointed for men once to die." (Heb. ix. 27.) Nothing is more certain, nothing can be more evident. All that have gone before us, heroes, emperors, princes, bishops, popes, have all died at last — no dignity, no power, no influence could screen them from the universal necessity of paying the debt of nature. "Thou hast appointed his bounds, which cannot be passed," says holy Job. (Job xiv. 5.) Believe, therefore, this simple but all-important and all-eloquent truth — you too must die.
II. As to time, place, manner, etc., of your death, nothing can be more uncertain. How many sudden accidents have you read of, heard of, and even witnessed! How many have been struck with the unerring shafts of death whilst they were eating, drinking, sleeping, or diverting themselves! When will your turn arrive? What if it should arrive at this moment? Are you ready? What says conscience? In consequence of this fearful uncertainty, Christ frequently and most emphatically exhorts us to be always ready. " Watch ye, therefore," He says, " for ye know not when the Lord of the house cometh — at even, or at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning." (Matt. xiii. 35.)
III. We can only die once. If we die a bad death, we cannot recover ourselves; if we die well, all will be well forever. "If the tree fall to the south, or to the north, in what place soever it shall fall, there shall it be." (Ec-
