plain :-"Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning: and ye yourselves like unto men, that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth, and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. Be ye, therefore, ready also for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not."

This it is, to know the true signs of the times. This it is, to be found in your place. This it is, to be ready to meet every event. And, that it may please God to influence your hearts to this end, I most earnestly beseech him for his infinite mercy's sake! Amen.

SERMON XVI.

DUTY OF WATCHFULNESS.

MARK xiii. 35, 36, 37.

Watch ye therefore; for ye know not when the master of the house cometh; at even or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning: lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.

As in a general dispensary, there are medicines for all cases: so in the grand moral dispensary of the Scriptures, while there are recipes for particular complaints, there are some which are always suitable, always in season. The text is one. Whether a

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temporal event of great importance is approachingwhether an event extremely momentous, like death, is at hand-whether the day is coming, which is eternally to determine our state,more suitable counsel cannot be given than that which is given in the "Watch!" for "the master of the house cometh:" if he finds you sleeping, he finds you in a state of perdition. And that which may be said to any particular class of persons, about to meet such an event as the destruction of Jerusalem, may be said. to every one ready to meet a still greater-" What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch."

1. Let us notice the warning here given: "The Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch;" for he will shortly return.

2. Let us regard the caution: "Lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping."

3. Let us attend to the means which we should use, lest we should be found sleeping: "What I say unto

you, I say unto all, Watch."

I. Let us notice the WARNING here given.

No man, but those pitiable creatures, infidels and scoffers, questions for a moment whether death and judgment stand before him; and therefore he cannot for a moment doubt whether this warning is not of the last importance. Though there are many remarkable periods in the life of a man, though there are many surprising vicissitudes and revolutions in states and kingdoms, yet what are they all to this?

Death and judgment are inevitable, surprising, and sudden. Whether a man thinks of it or not, things are in progress-the day is coming on--the decree is

past and though, "of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven," still it is as certainly fixed as the day in which God created man.

I do not intend to dwell on this part of my subject. The idea of the day of judgment is firmly fixed in the mind of every thinking man. Yet it is too grand for his comprehension. When, therefore, the poet, the orator, or the painter attempts to exhibit to us the terrors of that day he must fail. The description best calculated to meet the comprehension of man, is given by our Lord, when he speaks of a king coming and separating all nations, as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats: placing the sheep at his right hand, and the goats at his left, he says to the one, "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you;" and, to the other, "Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!"

Great use may, however, be made of this awful event, however incapable we are of describing it in detail. Let us give it prominence in our minds, when we would ascertain the weight and worth of the things of time.

I hear reports flying through the world. One says, "This is great: that is noble." Another says, "this or that is of vast importance." But if we would know what is the real value of these things, let us apply them to the standard. Bring those things, which are deemed vast and noble, to the test of the great day; how insignificant is every thing called great in this world!

But, as death leaves a man, so judgment must find him. As one single moment, therefore, may place us in our final state,—as, this very night, our souls may be required of us,-as God has not said to the holiest

of his servants, "Thou shalt live an hour," nor "Thou shalt live a minute;" we may feel the force of this general warning in the text, "What I say unto you, I say unto you all, Watch:" for "the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye, therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh."

Brethren! multitudes have heard this warning in this place, who are now in full possession of the fact: they now experimentally know these things to be true. Could we ask these persons their sentiments, now that they have entered the eternal world by death, and stand waiting ready for the judgment to come, is there one of them, think you, who would come forward, and say, "While I was living on earth, the preacher was too urgent he was too close on the conscience?" Is there one of them, who sees not now the vast importance of a single Sabbath, or of a single sermon? Is there one who would not consider neglect of the Bible as the greatest act of rashness, of which a rational creature could be guilty ?—That God should speak to man, and that man would not hear him! Is there one, who would not consider a throne of grace as of the highest concern-to have an opportunity of speaking to God? Or do you imagine that any complain that, while living, they watched too painfully?

Oh, let us listen to this warning, given to us by our blessed Master and Redeemer. In love to the souls of men it was, that he left this warning behind him.

II. Let us notice the CAUTION: "Lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping."

I cannot suppose that there is one of my hearers, who will mistake the meaning of the expression, and think that it is to be taken in a literal sense. The man who is truly alive to God, will be ready to meet his God, though, while asleep in his bed, the "heavens" should "melt with fervent heat," and "pass away with a great noise."

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The expression is a metaphor taken from sleep. The Scriptures speak of the careless and the wicked as of one asleep, who pays no attention to the most important concerns around him. For instance: a man may find his house safe-all calm and quiet: he retires-lays him down on his bed with great satisfaction-falls into refreshing sleep, as he has done innumerable nights before. While he sleeps safely and sweetly, perhaps a robber plunders the house: he is insensible of the injury: he is asleep: the robber may enter his chamber, and put a knife to his throat; but the man sleeps on! He may set the house in flames-the man sleeps on! no sense of danger! Or a mighty wind may shake the house to the foundation--but he sleeps on! I said that the sleeper was all this time insensible; but possibly he may not be wholly so; for, though unconscious of his danger, he may be running abroad in delightful dreams-advancing to honour-abounding in wealth-entering into some scene of pleasure or standing on some rock, where nothing can touch him!

How faithful a picture is this of carnal security! what our Lord here speaks of as the master of the house coming suddenly, and finding his servants sleeping. In this precise state does the thoughtless sinner stand. All the great promises of this book are nothing! Its awful threatenings are all as nothing!