lie on a sick bed; and the blessing of GoD will rest on those who thus fulfil his commandments.

May all who now hear me, while they reflect on the different periods of life, learn so to number their days that they may apply their hearts unto wisdom. At whatever hour their Master call, may He find them always ready; and in youth, in manhood, or in age, may the Christian be prepared to say, "LORD, now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

SERMON XVII.

ST. LUKE xxiii. 46.

AND WHEN JESUS HAD CRIED WITH A LOUD VOICE, HE SAID, FATHER, INTO THY HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT; AND HAVING SAID THUS, HE GAVE UP THE GHOST.

HAVING

AVING now observed the progress of a Christian in his passage through this life from childhood to the brink of the grave; it only remains to consider his situation, and to compare it with that of a wicked man, at the hour of death. This shall be the subject of my present discourse; and at our next meeting I hope to close the whole, by looking, with the eye of faith, beyond this transitory life, and leading you to reflect on what we are permitted to know of the glories of Heaven.

However men may differ in all other respects, there is one event common to all, and that is death; yet it is astonishing to see how seldom they reflect on this subject. Consider, I beseech you, what it is to die. You see it every day, and one day you must feel it; but have you ever seriously reflected on death? To die, is to leave all that is dear to us here on earth. Those pleasures for which we too often neglect our duty, must end at once. The riches we have gained, must be left behind. We must see no more on earth the friends we have loved. The strong and vigorous limbs will be stiff and cold; the anxious heart will cease to beat; the bosom which once swelled with pride, will be humbled in the dust; the worm will feed on the cheek of beauty. All that the kindest friend can then do to shew his love, will be to lay us in the cold ground, and leave us there to be eaten by worms. Such is the end of human pride, and of human happiness! Such is the fate which power cannot prevent, which wisdom cannot escape. The rich man clothed in purple, and the beggar at his door, must sink alike into the grave, must alike return to that dust of which they were formed. My brethren, have you ever thought of this? Have you reflected, that I who speak, and every one of you who hear,

must be in the state which I have described; that it will happen soon; that it may happen now? I may never be allowed to speak to you again. Some of you may never see another Sunday. Before the end of a year, there is every reason to expect that some of those who are now present will be laid in the grave. In a few years, this will probably happen to many. In a few more years, it must happen to all. Is it possible we should believe and know this awful truth, and yet that so few should prepare for an event which must befall every one? We try to secure wealth; we say to our soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry."

But

who remembers the dreadful answer of GOD? "Thou fool, this night, thy soul shall be required of thee."*

O my brethren! these are thoughts to make the firmest tremble; and nothing except religion can support us under them. But let us view these things as Christians, and all is changed. We must die indeed; but what is death, when viewed with the light of revelation? If we leave those virtuous friends who are most dear to us on earth, it is to meet them again in heaven. There we hope for pleasures which will never fade, for riches * Luke xii. 19.

which no rust can destroy. The voice of GOD will call our bodies from the grave no more to see corruption; while every sorrow forgotten, every sin forgiven, the heir of immortal glory shall be caught up into the clouds, to meet his LORD in the air, to reign with him for ever! Do not your hearts burn within you at such thoughts as these? Is not every one who hears me ready to exclaim with the Prophet, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.”*

But in order to this, we must live the life of the righteous. All must die; but whether death is to be the moment of joy or of terror, whether it is to be the beginning or the end of happiness, depends on the state of every man's conscience. For this reason it is, that I have so frequently and earnestly recommended to every Christian the constant practice of self-examination; and advised him never to sleep, till he have endeavoured to obtain the pardon of his sins. Sooner or later he must give an account of his actions; and dreadful is the state of those, who in age or sickness are forced for the first time to think on their past lives. An hour wil come, when every one of us must remember what he would most wish to forget. With what horror will the wicked man then reflect * Numbers xxiii. 10