DISCOURSE X.

ROM. XIV. 12.

Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

IT is appointed unto men once to die, "and after this the judgment." One of these events, on the authority of Scripture, is not more certain than the other. For this same Apostle expressly told his hearers at Athens, that "God hath ap

pointed a day in the which he will judge "the world in righteousness by that man "whom he hath ordained; whereof he "hath given assurance in that he hath "raised him from the dead." On the ground then of this assurance, as certainly as the man Christ Jesus hath been raised from the dead by the power of God, so certainly

certainly will he come again to judge

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The resurrection of Christ and his subsequent ascension into Heaven, are circumstances which have received the evidence of sense for their confirmation. Whilst his Disciples were conversing with him, after his resurrection, a cloud received him out of their sight. At the same time," while they looked stedfastly "toward Heaven, as he went up," from the naturally anxious desire of taking the last parting look of their ascending Master, "behold two men stood by them in "white apparel; which also said, ye men "of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into "Heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken 66 up from you into Heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen him go in Heaven." The business in which this same Jesus shall be employed at his second coming, all Christians profess to know; since they bear the following testimony to it in their creed: "And he who ascended into Heaven,' shall come "again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead."

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This point then thus clearly ascertained, to those at least who profess to be believers; the persons here assembled must consequently be prepared for the consideration of that important subject, which the words of the text bring before usi "Every one of us shall give account of "himself to God." And if every individual is to give account of himself to God, the conclusion of every thinking individual will be, that some account of himself with himself must be regularly kept, if he would be, in any degree, in a state of preparation for this great and final audit.

Such is the object which the Church has in view in setting apart certain seasons, for the more immediate purposes of reflection and self-examination; that by sending her members out of the world into their closets, they might, by a proper employment of their time there, acquire that knowledge of themselves, which is indispensably necessary to their forming any thing like a correct judgment, with respect to the state of their spiritual con

This Discourse was delivered in Lent.

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cerns.

cerns. From this most necessary and salutary employment of trying the heart and searching the spirit, as preparatory to the great trial to which they are to be finally subjected, the engagements, the allurements, and the distractions of a world under the direction of that grand deceiver, the prince of it, are expressly calculated to divert us: with the view of bringing us into that state of ignorance and indifference with respect to all spiritual concerns, in which it has been foretold that the great bulk of mankind shall, in the last days, be found. "For as in "the days that were before the flood, "they were eating and drinking, marry"ing and giving in marriage," that is, wholly taken up with those things which engross the the attention of carnal and worldly minds; "until the day that Noah "entered into the Ark; and knew not" because they would not consider, "until "the flood came and took them all away; "so shall the coming of the son of man "be." Matt. xxiv. 38.

We have on record a very remarkable prophecy delivered by St. Peter on this subject;

subject; which, from the important tenor of it, lays claim to particular attention. "There shall come in the last days," says the Apostle, "scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the pro"mise of his coming? for since the fa"thers fell asleep, all things continue as "they were, from the beginning of the "creation. For this they are willingly ig "norant of, that by the Word of God "the Heavens were of old, and the earth "standing out of the water and in the "water. Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, pe "rished."

This part of St. Peter's prophecy furnishes a decisive answer to those scoffers, who, from their attachment to carnal indulgences and worldly pursuits, judging from the long cessation of the visible interpositions of Providence, together with their constant observance of the uniform progress of natural causes and effects, that all things in the world will continue as they have been from the beginning, are led to the persuasion, that the promise of the son of man's second coming to judg

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