This day indeed, the last of the week, ought to remind me of the last day of my life, of the day of my death, of the day of judgment. As this week ends, so must my life; these hurrying weeks bring it to an end; the end is at hand. I must soon come to the great mystery of death, and feel it, and know what it is. O great mystery of death, how can it be understood now! This house must be dissolved, this my very body, all this most wonderful frame in which only I have known life. I have known no other manner of life than this; I cannot understand life without this body, nor the change when body and soul shall be again joined for ever. And yet the last use and motions of these my present limbs, of tongue, eye, heart, hands, and other members, the last sight of this world, of all this scene where I have lived, the last dawn, and last sunset, and last aspect of men as they are now, the last of all these things is at hand. I cannot escape from death, nor shrink from it; but this I can do by Thy grace, God, I can prepare myself for mine end. I can now think of the day of death, that I may learn to prepare.
I know not, Lord, the number of my days; I know not how I shall die, whether I shall have a great trial at the last, or a short sickness, or a