they obtain on the lives of many! The truth is, that we do not allow them due consideration; we do not bring them home to us, either deeply or frequently enough; we coldly admit them as speculative truths, but forget how essentially we ourselves are interested in them: would it else be possible that any pleasures, riches, or honours, which can only endure three or four-score years, the length of the longest life, should ever tempt us to forfeit an eternity of happiness, and hazard an eternity of misery! The wisest man, and he who had apparently the greatest means of happiness, and who had experienced all sorts of the pleasures of this life, confessed that-all was vanity and vexation of spirit! But if it were not so, if a man could be really blest in this world, yet what proportion does a few paltry years hold with an eternity? If the riches or honours, which are purchased by fraud or guilt, were to be enjoyed for ever, we should not so very much wonder that men scruple neither fraud nor guilt to obtain them; but when, for aught we know, they may be taken away the next moment, and at the longest, will certainly not remain many years, and when, instantly on leaving them, the sinner will be called to a strict account for the manner in which they were obtained, and everlastingly punished, if it were by unrighteous means,— what name, but madness, can we give to such conduct! But, alas! the plea of madness will not be allowed: men know, or at least might know,

what they ought to do, and what avoid, and they have the power of choosing between them :-life and death are before them-and if they will, with their eyes open, voluntarily prefer the latter, the consequences of their absurd choice will justly fall on their own heads.

I cannot, I think, conclude this discourse better, than by calling to your minds, and setting before you, that great day, arrayed as it is in Scripture with awfulness and terror, which those who have taken care of the one thing needful, will meet with as much tranquillity and confidence, as those, who have neglected it, will with shame and consternation." The day of the Lord will come, in the which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up; the sun shall be darkened, and the moon turned into blood, and all the powers of Heaven shaken :then shall the Son of Man come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him; and he shall sit upon the throne of his glory; before him shall be gathered all the nations of the earth; and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left; and he shall say to them on his right handCome ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And he shall say to them on his left hand

-Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; and these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal."

With this description I rest my cause, as I am well convinced, that whoever gives himself time to consider it, however he may be prompted by passion to deny, will be forced by reason to confess, that the care of his salvation is the one thing, which is solely and exclusively needful.

SERMON XIX.

FIRST PART.

ON THE DUTIES OF THE SICK.

ISAIAH XXXVIII. I.

Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live.

It is appointed to all men once to die; death is the only passage from this world to the next. This awful event is usually preceded by a course of sickness, of longer or shorter continuance; and during this sickness we are called on to the practice of some particular duties, the principal of which I shall endeavour to point out in this disThese duties are partly temporal, partly spiritual; some of them relate to our concerns in this world, and have for their object our fellowcreatures; some relate to the state to which we are going, and have for their object God, and the salvation of our souls.

course.

I shall treat, in the first place, of those temporal duties which it is necessary that the sick man should fulfil. Now many of these to a certain

degree, and some altogether, should be performed during health; but as the generality of mankind are too apt to neglect them at that season, it becomes the more highly requisite that they should make all the amends in their power, when they perceive their end approaching. The first of these duties is justice; under which is comprehended the payment of our debts, the disposal of the remainder of our fortune, and the intreating pardon, and making all the atonement which we are able to those whom we are conscious that we have injured.

No debts should be contracted at any time, which there is the slightest chance that we may not be able to pay. It is not allowable for us to reckon with certainty upon living to such a period, and going in debt on the strength of that expectation, when we are conscious, that if we die before, our creditors will lose by having trusted us. I will suppose, therefore, that when a person comes to be attacked with a dangerous disease, he is, as he ought to be, fully able to answer all demands upon him. One of the first things, then, which he should do, is to discharge these demands, and where this is impossible to be done on the instant, to take all proper measures to secure their being discharged with expedition. If there be any debts, which are only known to himself and the party to whom they are due, he ought to take instant care to acknowledge them before impartial and respectable witnesses. To restore to his neighbour what

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