HEB. xii. 11. "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterwards PSALM XXX. 11, 12.-" Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness; to the end that my glory REV. XIV. 13.-" And I heard a voice from heaven, say- ing unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the SERMONS. SERMON I. FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT. ROMANS Xiii. 11.-" And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." IN these words of St. Paul, we have a warning peculiarly suited to all christian hearers, and more especially at this season of the year. It is a warning against continuing in indifference, in disregard of God, and in a state of sleep and insensibility. And this warning is enforced by an argument drawn from the rapid progress of time, from the quickly diminishing space between time and eternity. It is a warning, my brethren, that I trust may be made of service to us all, and one that I think on farther consideration, will not be found to be unrequired. It is a warning indeed, and something more, for it conveys B a reproach," Now it is high time," is an expression that denotes the necessity of doing something quickly; it is a common manner of saying, "that there is no time to be lost," that unless we make haste we shall be too late. And then the call that is made upon us, the duty to which we are summoned," to awake out of sleep ;" this surely implies that there is danger if we continue as we are. Whatever that state is, which is described by St. Paul as sleep, we may be sure that it cannot be a state of safety, so that putting the two together, the warning in the text may be said to amount to thisthat we are in peril, and that unless we use all diligence we shall hardly escape out of it. I have taken it for granted, that our state before God is such, as for the most part to warrant the necessity of this counsel. Let us see if this be really the case. Let us see whether we are rightly included amongst the number of those, who in scriptural languagé, are said to be "asleep," and if asleep, consequently in peril. On this depends the whole force of the admonition. And first, what is that sleep here spoken of, as so full of risk to the man who indulges it? It is not, of course, the sleep of the body, but the sleep of the soul. That dullness and deadness to heavenly and spiritual things, to which we are all by nature inclined, and which in more ways than we are aware of, is always creeping over the hearts of those, who are not continually on the watch against it. It is a sleep which often lies the heaviest on those, who in the exercise of their daily calling, show no lack of activity or vigour. Nay, it is often brought on and increased by this very diligence. The man of business (as he is called,) is so wholly occupied, that he has no time to care about other matters; sufficient for him is the work that is before him; to this he applies himself with ardour ; to buy, and to sell, and get gain, are to him the great things needful. In these transactions he succeeds, and for this reason, because his heart is in his work, because he is awake to what he looks on as his true interest. Talk to such a man about God and the things of another world, it is distasteful to him. And no wonder; the subject, though not new to him, is one on which he has seldom thought-one which at its first approach, appears to condemn him for the very pursuits about which he is so wholly engaged. To condemn him for his over anxiety about this world's goods; for his love of money; for his letting the cares and pleasures of this life, entwine themselves too closely around his heart. Truly I think the state of this man, with respect to his only real interest, can be described no otherwise than as a state of sleep. are there who sleep this sleep! And how many How many are |