Page:Great importance of a suitable preparation for death (2).pdf/2



T is very hard to determine, where all that are here ſhall be within thirty years; for even ere that time come, many (if not all) of us who are here, ſhall have taken up our everlaſting lodging. And whether we ſhall take it up in the eternity of joy, or in the eternity of pain, is also hard to determine; only this one thing I am ſure of, that all of us ſhall ſhortly be gone, and ere long the ſhadows of death ſhall be ſitting upon our eye-lids, and our eye-ſtrings ſhall begin to break. Therefore, I would the more ſeriouſly- enquire at you. what would you think if death were approaching this night unto you? Think ye that Jesus Chriſt is gone up to prepare a place for you ? even for you. Surely———I think we are all near to eternity, and there are ſome hearing me today, whom I defy the world to aſſure, that ever they ſhall hear another ſermon: therefore I entreat you all to hear this preaching, as if it were the laſt preaching that ever ye ſhould hear, and O that we could ſpeak it, as if it were the laſt ſermon that ever we would preach unto you. Believe me, death is another thing than we take it to be. Oh! what will many of us do in the day of our viſitation, when deſolation ſhall