Page images
PDF
EPUB

SERMON XXX.

THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

let

NUMBERS Xxiii. 10.

-Let me die the death of the righteous, and my last end be like his.

66

OF the righteous;" that is, of the faithful worshipper of the true God, for such appears to be the signification of the word derived from an attention to the context. Balaam, a Prophet inspired by the Most High, was summoned by Balak the powerful Prince of the idolatrous Moabites, to denounce vengeance upon Israel, the chosen people of the Almighty. His inclination coincided with that of the Moabitish Prince. But a more potent and an irresistible force overruled his depraved

I

will; and instead of curses upon the people of God, drew from him the blessings contained in the 23d and 24th chapters of Numbers; and especially in that sublime apostrophe, which occurs at the opening of the 23d chapter, and which terminates with the words of the text: an apostrophe, undoubtedly designed to impress the idolatrous Balak with a sense of the real misery, notwithstanding the apparent prosperity, of those, who depart from the living God; and of the present peace of mind and ultimate happiness of those, who are faithfully devoted to his service.

That, which Balaam affirms in a special sense concerning the enviable condition of the Israelites, as contrasted with that of their idolatrous neighbours, is generally and at all times true with respect to such as are devoted to the service of God, when compared with the unbelievers and the disobedient. Death, the common and inevitable end of all men, appears with a very different aspect to men of different descriptions. To some it is an object of apprehension and terror; by others it is contemplated

with calmness and

composure:-some

shrink from its approach with disgust; others await it with patience, and welcome it with serenity-by the wicked it is regarded as an enemy; by the righteous as a friend. I propose in the following discourse to consider the causes of these sensations, so different in different men; and thence to infer the justice of the exclamation in the text, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!"

That worldly men fear to die, is a fact of which daily and general experience may convince us that they should fear to die, needs not excite astonishment.

For, 1st, death deprives them of all those worldly honours, riches, and possessions, in the enjoyment of which the happiness of the carnal man consists. To enjoy these things at his pleasure, he esteems his delight to be deprived of these, and that too beyond all hope of recovery, is in his estimation to be unhappy. Alas, he thinks within himself, while he enumerates in his

thoughts, and surveys with his mind's eye, the various particulars of that felicity, on which his heart has been perpetually dwelling; must I now depart for ever from all my honours, all my treasure; from my country; from my friends; my riches, my possessions, my worldly pleasures, which are my joy and heart's delight? Must I go down to the grave, and will" none of these things follow me?" Of all that I have gathered, and of all in which I have taken delight, must nothing be any longer mine, but a miserable shred to infold my body, and a poor nook of ground for that body to occupy, where "the worms will be spread under me, and the worms shall cover me?" Alas, alas; that ever the day should come, when I must bid farewell to all my enjoyments at once, and never hope to be delighted with one of them again! -To him whose happiness centers in the things of this world, that must needs be no pleasing visitor, which deprives him of his happiness, by depriving him of all which this world can give: and what the wise Son of Sirach saith, is as true as it is affecting; “O Death, how bitter is the remembrance of

« PreviousContinue »