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riches or honours, which are purchased by fraud or guilt, were to be enjoyed for ever,

we should not so very much wonder that

SERM.

XVIII.

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.

VOL. I.

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SERM. I cannot, I think, conclude this discourse XVIII. 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 asmuch tranquility 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 shep"herd divides his sheep from his goats, and

"he

XVIII.

" he shall set the sheep on his right hand and S ERM. "the goats on his left; and he shall say to "them on his right hand-Come ye blessed "of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre

pared for you from the foundation of the "world. And he shall say unto them on his " left hand-Depart from me ye cursed into

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everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and "his angels; and these shall go into ever

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lasting punishment, but the righteous into "life eternal."

With this description I rest my cause, 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.

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SERMON XIX.

FIRST PART.

ON THE DUTIES OF THE SICK.

ISAIAH XXXVIII. LATTER PART OF V. I.

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

Ir is appointed to all men once to die; SERM. death is the only passage from this world XIX. 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

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