holy? Well, blessed be God for such a desire. Know, my friends, that all are alike by nature. If any here are made holy, sovereign grace made them so. Do you begin to cry, What must I do? We answer, first look to Christ for the pardon of your sins; and then, for the purity of your heart. You must not first strive to make yourselves better, and then think you may come to him with better hope of salvation; but come now, come just as you are, and the friend of sinners will receive you

The same direction may be useful to those, who are seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness; who mourn over remaining corruption, and long for the image of God. Look to Jesus for it. Remember that, by virtue of union to Christ, you may, by faith, derive daily grace from him through the power of the Holy Spirit. "Without him you can do nothing;" but "his grace is sufficient" for all things. In the exercise of constant faith, and in the diligent use of all appointed means, expect the supplies of the Spirit: believing, assuredly, that he who has begun the good work in you, will carry it on, till made meet for the heavenly inheritance.

SERMON XI.

DEATH AND JUDGMENT.

Heb. ix. 27. It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment.

IT

T is recorded of Philip, King of Macedon, that he ordered one of his pages to come every morning to his chamber door, and cry aloud,-"Philip, remember thou art mortal!" How much the conduct of this heathen prince shames numbers of people called Christians! who, instead of keeping their mortality in mind, do all in their power to forget it. This discourse is intended to call your serious attention to what so much concerns you. Like Moses therefore we say, "O that you were wise, that you understood this, that you would consider your latter end!" May you be led to pray, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."

Our first business at this time is with DEATH. There is something solemn in the very name! but O, who can tell what death is? None of our relations or neighbours return from the grave to inform us; we must learn its nature, its cause, and its consequences, from the faithful word of God. We may indeed see something of it in our dying friends. We may see the hasty progress of some fatal disease. The pains, the groans, the agonies of the dying, we have observed. We have seen many a man cut down in the midst of life; hearty, strong, and cheerful, one week; the next, a pale, cold, lifeless corpse, lying in his coffin, and carried to the churchyard. Others we have seen, or heard of, cut off without a moment's warning; perfectly well one moment, the next in eternity. How true is the Scripture, "All flesh is grass, and the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field; in the morning it flourisheth, in the evening it is cut down and withered." How frail is man! At "his best estate he is altogether vanity." He is crushed sooner than the moth.

What awful separations does death make! It removes us at once from our nearest relations and dearest friends. We shut our eyes to all the world; "we shall see man no more in the land of the living." Death puts a sudden period to all our projects, good or bad; "in that very day our thoughts perish." It deprives the great of all their pomp and power, and the rich of all their possessions, for man"bringeth nothing with him into this world, and it is certain he can carry nothing out."

Death is universal. Other evils are partial. But all men die; "for what man is he that liveth, and shall not see death?" Death has reigned in all ages; and though in early times some men lived many hundred years, yet they all died at last. Death reigns in all countries: as certainly as the tide ebbs and flows, so "one generation passeth away, and another cometh." This is "the way of all flesh." "The grave is the house appoined for all living." There is no discharge in this war. needs die."

"We must

Death is in itself awful! The fear of death; the agonies of death: the ghastly appearance of the dead; the sad change that takes place in the body, which renders it I

VOL. I.

offensive, and obliges us to bury it out of our sight; the coffin, the shroud, the cold grave, the crawling worms, the sordid dust-all these are terrible things to nature. But what makes death a thousand times more terrible is, that it is the effect of God's anger. Had there been no sin, there had been no death. God, to keep Adam from sin, threatened him with death; but Satan, the father of lies, said he should not die. He ventured on the forbidden fruit, and so, by his sin, "death came into the world, and hath passed upon all" his children in every succeeding age. Death, then is, "the wages of sin ;" and carries with it the most awful marks of God's anger. This is justly called by St. Paul the sting of death: "the sting of death is sin." It is the consciousness of guilt, and the just dread of future misery, which makes death so very dreadful. Poor thoughtless mortals, neglecting to regard the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, which brings a sovereign remedy, an antidote to death, are unwilling to think of it: they put off as much as possible the evil day but did they know the love of Christ in dying to disarm death of its sting; did they consider, that, by faith in Jesus, all the danger of death may be avoided; they would sit down and look death in the face; and wisely consider how they may meet, with safety and pleasure, what they can never avoid.

For let it be remembered, that the death of each of us here present, is absolutely certain. Our text says, "it is appointed:" it is the firm decree of God, which cannot be reversed. It is the unalterable law of God, a law which no sinner can transgress; other laws of God are trampled under feet, but this must be obeyed. We know not when, or how, we shall die: but we are sure that we must die. Whether we are high or low; rich or poor; male or female; young or old; "it is appointed for us once to die." Possibly, when death comes, we may be very unfit to die; very unwilling to die; but death will not delay on that account: ready or unready, when the hour comes, we must submit. It is said of the wicked-" he is driven away in his wickedness"-suddenly perhaps; at least unexpectedly. It was 66 when the rich fool" talked of many years to come, that God said to him, "this night shall thy soul be required of thee;" often violently dragged to the grave

like a malefactor to the gallows. O what would some great and rich sinners have given for a few weeks, or a few hours of life, if money could have bought them: but death will not be bribed: go the sinner must, "although the physicians help, friends groan, the wife and children weep, and the man himself use his utmost endeavours to retain the spirit; his soul is required of him; yield he must, and go where he shall never more see the light."

Here let us stop a moment, and apply to ourselves what has already been said.

Is life so short? Then why should we waste it? Why should we make it shorter by our sin and folly? How much of our precious time is entirely lost! What shall we think of sports and pastimes, cards, and plays, and dancing, which are expressly intended to kill time?-To kill time! Shocking expression to the ears of a Christian! O, had you heard what some dying sinners have said of their murdered time, when time with them was nearly over, you would dread the thought of killing time; rather would you study how to "redeem time," and obey the direction of the wise man, Eccl. ix. 10. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest." Particularly be careful to improve holy time, I mean the Lord's day: the day which the Lord has graciously appointed for your spiritual improvement. The abuse of this day is one of the greatest sources of sin and infidelity; and the recollection of the neglect of it is often dreadfully painful to dying people. Be exhorted, then, diligently regard the means of grace on this day, and improve every sabbath as the most precious portion of a short life.

Is death certain? Will it surely come, and you know not how soon? Then let it be your first business to prepare for it? This is our Lord's advice; "Be ye also ready, for ye know not when the Son of Man cometh." It is appointed unto men once to die, once only; now that which can be done but once should be well done; especially as our eternal all depends upon it. As the tree falls so it lies; as death leaves us judgment finds us; if an error happens here, it can never be remedied. Surely then it is the high

est wisdom of man to prepare for this great change. Do you ask what it is to be prepared? I answer, it is to have your sins pardoned and your soul sanctified; for "SIN is the sting of death;" if your sins are pardoned you need not fear to die; and if your soul is sanctified by grace, death will be your gain. This then is your great concern, your immediate business. Fly, instantly fly, to the Saviour's arms. He died that we might live. His blood cleanseth from all sin. He will wash every soul from sin who applies to him for that purpose; and, at the same time, bestow his Holy Spirit to sanctify the soul, and make it meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. Happy for those who are in this blessed state; they may say, "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord; so that living and dying we are the Lord's." God grant this may be the happy condition of us all.

Let us now proceed to the second part of this great subject, namely, ETERNAL JUDGMENT; "after death the judgment."

Immediately after death, it is presumed, the soul, separated from the body, appears before God; and by a private, particular, and personal judgment, receives the sentence of eternal life, or eternal death. The Scripture abundantly shews, that the soul subsists in a separate state from the body. Our Lord promised the dying thief that he should be with him, on the very day of his death, in paradise; and St. Paul longed to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord; accounting it far better than the highest state of privilege or usefulness in the church.

But the accounts we have in the Scripture of the judgment refer to the great day, when the dead shall be raised from their graves, when small and great shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The glory and grandeur of this day will be far beyond the power of language to express."The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised." "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, with his mighty angels." "The Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him: then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall sepa