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Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

THE day of the Lord is, to each, the day of his death, because the stroke of death cometh from the hand of God, and because the time of man's trial is then at an end. The stroke of death, considered in every point of view, is a subject for serious reflection. The soul, which had hitherto dwelt in the body, and directed all its movements, has now left its former place of abode, and is gone, we know not whither.

But how much does the subject rise in importance, when we consider, that, as the tree falls, so it must lie; that such as is the state of our souls when we quit this

life, such will be our portion through all

eternity.

What strong reason then is there for the caution in the text, "Watch therefore!" How can we be too much upon our guard, when we know not how soon that trial may be past, on which depends our happiness or misery for ever!

That the day of the Lord may come upon us so suddenly, like a thief in the night, as to give no time for preparation at its coming, we have proofs passing often within our knowledge, and occasionally even before our eyes..

Since we last met at this house of prayer, one of our neighbours has been called away from life so hastily, that death, crossed his path, and seized on him, it may be, in a moment.

Events such as these, my brethren, are intended as warnings to those who witness. them. Let us not then give the subject. merely a passing thought, and turn again immediately to our ordinary pursuits, but let us learn from hence so to "number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."

Ask then yourselves, each of you, this solemn question, If God was to require my soul of me this night, am I prepared to die?

There is nothing to alarm us in death if we can answer this question in a satisfactory manner. Death is as much according to the course of nature as birth. We all know that the one must follow the other. To St. Paul it was an object, not of terror, but of hope and joy: but they who lead a thoughtless (which is indeed a sinful) life, have just reason to regard death with the greatest fear. Language is unable to paint, in its true colours, the misery which awaits those who have "lived without God in the world," who, though not, perhaps, guilty of great sins, have yet neglected the concerns of their souls, and made no preparation for a future life, when they pass beyond the grave.

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These thoughts are so important at all times, and so suitable to us at the present moment especially, that I shall enter on the subject more at large, and earnestly intreat you to give me your whole attention.

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Let me first rouse you to a just notion of the danger of evil courses by the alarming words of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"But and if that evil servant shall say, My Lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth "."?

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What must be your feeling, if, at such a time as this, in the midst of a life given up to forbidden indulgences, the strong arm of death should be stretched out against you? What a fearful change from riot and drunkenness to the tomb, or

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which is far more awful to the world that lies beyond the tomb! Of what use would it then be to say, "I had resolved to amend my life; and, had I been spared, I should have become temperate, sober, and chaste!" It may be, on the contrary,

Matt. xxiv, 48-51.

that you have said, "I have yet many years to live; I will therefore eat, drink, and be merry." So spake the man mentioned by our Lord in the parable: but God said to him," Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee"."

When you read only of these things, you suffer them to pass by unheeded, though they speak a language which might well awaken your attention: but when the stroke does actually fall on a fellow-creature, who has lived among you, with whom, but yesterday, you might have conversed, but who is now gone for ever

to take no notice of such a subject would be more like the stupid indifference of a brute beast, than the conduct of a man, on whom an understanding has been bestowed, that he might "hear, mark, and inwardly digest," what passes before him. It is of such that God complains in the words of Solomon; "I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded:" and what follows? "therefore shall they eat of the fruit of

Luke xii. 20.

c Prov. i. 24, 31.

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