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yet having, as a nation, abjured the Church of Rome, we may repent of our sins, and not be found among her daughters who is called "the mother of harlots *." So for the ministers of Christ, that they may have power, and wisdom, and courage to profit by the present interval, so as to be instrumental to gather in many before" the time of the end " actually occurs. How instructive in this view is the description in the xivth of Revelations! " And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people; saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of his judgment is come." As if their message was to be delivered with the speed of a cherub, declaring to sinners,

Now is the only moment! escape for your life! ere the judgments of God are poured out, and you, like the sons-in-law of Lot, perish with the wicked.'

What need of prayer also for the abundant influences of the Holy Spirit to accompany their preaching! For without this Divine aid, their zeal, and boldness, and fidelity will be of no avail; and every one must be sensible how

Rev. xvii. 15.

comparatively small a measure of this influence is now granted. And yet how much is it required! for how totally unprepared the great bulk of society are for these seasons of tribulation! Surely as it was in the days of Noah and of Lot, so it is now. Look at the Roman Catholic countries; or look at this city, thousands of its inhabitants never entering a place of worship. What must be the end of these numerous. masses of souls dead in sin? The heart bleeds at the thought, and seems to say, involuntarily, "Oh that thou wouldst pour out thy Spirit upon all flesh!" and yet, what hope can we have of such mercies, if prayer be not made? none whatever. Assuredly, then, we should "watch unto prayer;" we should consider this as a peculiar part of our duty in the present day. As soon as the Lord revealed to Abraham that he was come down to see the state of the cities of the plain, the Patriarch immediately interceded for them he lost not a moment in pleading with the Lord, though he was told neither the exact time nor the extent of the judgment.

Let me, then, my beloved friends, in conclusion, entreat you to receive the motto, and to act upon it. Ye who have a lively faith in the Lord Jesus, come and receive it at his own table; that, strengthened and refreshed by this blessed ordinance, you may have more of the

spirit of the true disciples of Christ. And ye who are leaving the church, as unprepared or indisposed for this blessed ordinance, still take the motto. How near your own death may be, no one can say; and when the day of final judgment shall come God only knows; but this we know, for it is plainly revealed in His word, that, "except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Retire, then, to your chamber with this Scripture upon your minds: "The end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer."

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SERMON XXIII.

THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE IN DEATH.

JOB XIX. 25—27.

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though, after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.

THESE words form one of the three striking sentences with which our Church commences her last most solemn service. There is a peculiar pathos in these passages of Holy Writ: when united, they are, by the Divine blessing, highly calculated to produce that frame of mind which is then so desirable,—a frame in which hope for the departed believer, and submission to the Divine will under the loss of a Christian friend, should be closely blended. The first sentence which is pronounced by the minister, may be considered as used by him in the name of his Divine Lord for the consolation of the mourning

His

relatives. They are the very words which Jesus spake to Martha at the grave of Lazarus. first address to her was, "Thy brother shall rise again." For he, who well knew the tender feelings of the human heart, knew it would be but a partial comfort to promise that she should see his disembodied spirit: he declares therefore, "Thy brother shall rise again;" that his whole person, body and soul, should again be with her. When this promise was made, Martha did, as we are apt to do, postpone her consolation to an indefinite period: "I know that he shall rise again at the resurrection at the last day." As if she would say, 'It gives me but little comfort to look through that long space before I shall see my beloved brother.' But Jesus answers that objection, and gives her a present consolation: "I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die." As if he had said, Postpone not your comfort to this apparently distant hour: you have with you a present Saviour; one who is the resurrection-one who will himself soon rise again from the dead, and who, by this act overcoming death and the grave, will obtain a moral as he has already a physical power to raise at his pleasure the bodies of his people. Let this therefore be your con

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