Unhappily, we are always prone to think death at a distance; and thus to feel, that we may safely postpone our repentance to a future day. How few persons would be guilty of this procrastination if they really believed, that death was at the door? This then is our peculiar danger; and to a great extent the source of our negligence, and our ruin. The very uncertainty, which ought to rouse us to the greatest diligence, only prompts us to sloth. That, which ought to fill us with alarm, only lulls us into security. Thus we go on, postponing the great business of life, till death knocks at the door, and finds the work yet to be begun.

But to all, who thus waste their probation, and abuse the mercy of God, the time of Christ's coming will be dreadful.

"Death, 'tis a melancholy day

To those, who have no GoD."

Surprised, hurried, overborne with distress, they leave the world in terror; and awake in eternity, utterly unprepared to meet their Judge.

These solemn truths are peculiarly interesting to persons in middle, and declining, life. If we are not ready; when are we to become so? If our repentance is not now begun; when is it to commence? If we have not renounced sin; overcome the world; believed in Christ; and given up ourselves to God; what reasons have we to hope, that the little of life, which remains, will be spent to any better purpose, than the great portion, which is past?

How solemnly ought we to remember, that death will not wait for our wishes; that the Judgment is now hastening; that Eternity is at the door? Disease, unperceived, may now be making progress in our veins; and may be preparing without a suspicion on our part to hurry us to the grave. How absurd, how deceitful, how fatal, is our procrastination! How dreadful our stupidity! What terrible reasons have we to do what our hands find to do in this concern with our might!

Are we in health, and for this reason at ease about our salvation? So a month since were those, who died yesterday. Their

end exposes our folly in this senseless security; and from the tomb calls to us, "Be ye also ready."

To the young this duty becomes immensely interesting, because they now enjoy the best of all seasons for making this preparation. Remember, that, however hard your hearts may now be, they are more susceptible than they will probably be at any future period. Lose not, then, this hopeful, verdant season, this seed-time of life. Should the good seed be actually sown in advanced years; it will find a sterile soil, and an inclement sky: and the crop, if it should really follow, will scarcely repay the labours of the reaper. What fearful reasons have you to believe, that your hearts will be covered with thorns and briars; that they will be nigh unto cursing, and that their end will be to be burned? How few of you are ready for the coming of Christ? How few would declare, that they believed themselves to be ready? How few, while taking a retrospect of their lives, can find in them such a train of actions, as they would be willing to rehearse before their Judge?

Open your eyes; and see your privileges, and with them your hopes, every day lessening. Behold GoD every day removing farther from you; and the world taking a more entire possession of your hearts. Look back. Do you not perceive, that the gates of Heaven have already become more distant, dim and doubtful, to your eyes? Listen. Are not the calls of mercy already more indistinct. What hope can he, who is sinking every moment, rationally entertain, that he shall not be drowned? What hope can he, who is sliding down a precipice and all whose efforts stop not his career at the beginning, soberly indulge, when he is farther advanced, that he will not be dashed in pieces at the bottom. Now, then, lay hold on the hope set before you.

Remember further, that life to you, also, is absolutely uncertain. When your hopes of living long are high, and with full confidence you are promising yourselves many days; go to the neighbouring burying-ground; mark how many monuments are there raised over the young; and consider how many more at the same period of life have become inhabitants of those dark and melan

choly mansions, concerning whom no stone tells where they lie! How soon may you join these tenants of the grave! Wait not, then, for hoary locks to inform you, that you are tottering over the tomb. The gates of eternity are always open and the youth, the child, and the infant, are passing through them night and day. The knell may soon toll for your funeral also: and your weeping friends may soon follow you to the grave. How distressing will it be to them to look into that dark and narrow house, without a hope, and to follow your souls into eternity with no supporting evidence, that, while here you believed in the Redeemer, or loved GOD; or that there you will give your account with joy, be acquitted at the final trial, or find your names written in the Lamb's book of Life.

SERMON XXII.

THE FINAL INTERVIEW.

ECCLESIASTES xii. 7.

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.

AFTER the death of one of our fellow men, we hear the funeral bell summon together the surviving friends and neighbours of the deceased, to perform the last kind offices. The assembly gathers; a prayer is made; the coffin is placed on the bier, and borne to the grave. The body is then committed to the earth. A solemn address is made to the living, while surrounding the narrow house; and, with impressions produced by the affecting event, and in some degree suited to its melancholy nature, they then return to their own habitations.

Our friend has now bidden us a final adieu. The intercourse between him and us is terminated; and both the persons and "places which knew him" in the present world, "will here know him no more." Nothing is more obvious, than that this solemn subject affects the survivors less than its importance demands. The widow indeed, and the orphan children, usually mourn sincerely, and in earnest. The death of the husband and the father, has wounded their affection, lessened their happiness, and overcast their hopes. There are, also, at least in many instances, other friends, less intimately connected, who sensibly feel the breach made upon their enjoyments. But there are multitudes of others, and those often not very remote in acquaintance or consanguinity, whose last affecting emotions concerning the departed man are felt at the grave; and who, when they turn their feet

homeward, leave behind them every sympathizing reflection, every solemn thought. With them, life immediately assumes the same aspect, as if they had never known him; and the world, as if he had never been.

But notwithstanding all this indifference to death, and to those who are dead, there are occasions, on which these emotions will in some measure come home to the heart; incidents, which will call them up to view in an affecting light; and persons, by whom they will be seriously realized in a manner not unsuited to their importance. On such occasions, most men, perhaps, experience at times some degree of solicitude; and feel an involuntary twinge, a transient chill, passing over their hearts. That we should be so inattentive to a subject which so nearly concerns us, and so strongly appeals to our natural tenderness, seems at first thought to be strange. The explanation is in some degree, perhaps principally, furnished by our fears. The death of others naturally alarms us concerning our own departure; and the consideration of their future allotments easily leads us to reflections concerning our own. It is not to be wondered at that subjects, so painful as these, should be unwelcome whenever they approach; and be dismissed, not only without reluctance, but with eagerness and self-gratulation.

There are however seasons, in which we cannot wholly refuse to wander into the unseen world. Those, who are witnesses of the death and burial of this departed friend, will, at times, follow him in the exercise of imagination; and inquire with some anxiety whither he is gone; where he dwells; and by what circumstances he is surrounded. His body, we know, is lodged in the grave; is mouldering into its native dust; and is already become the prey of corruption, and the feast of worms. But where is the Man? Where is the living, conscious Being, that saw with the eyes, spoke with the tongue, and moved the hands, of that body? Where is the being who thought and chose, loved and hated, controlled the cares of the family, mingled in the intercourse of the neighbourhood, and took an active part in the interesting concerns of the present world?