Yet, fuch is the infatuation of men !-death, that is ever at the door-death that is ready to furprise them at those seasons when they least think of it-death is forgottenand leaves the world, their paffions, and their vices in full dominion in the heart. Like the fool they fay, my foul! take thine eafe, thou haft much goods laid up for many years and because it is not clearly and unequivocally denounced to them, this night thy foul fhall be required of thee, they live as if they were to live here forever.

Did this uncertainty regard merely the time, the place, or the manner of our departure hence, it would be a fubject of comparatively little moment. To a fincere chriftian whofe eternal interefts are fecure, it can be of finall importance indeed whe ther he makes his change now or hereafter, according to the ordinary course of nature, or by fome more fudden and unforeseen accident. In the favour and protection of God he is always fafe. Whenever he leaves the world, he is delivered from a painful exile and brought, with unspeakable joy, into the prefence of his heavenly Father.If he arrives by a fhorter, or a rougher path

than others, ftill he haftens home with de light, and the glorious recompence of his fidelity makes him forget all the dangers of the way-But the dreadful uncertainty to those who are without God, and without Chrift in the world, is the uncertainty of their salvation.—Eternal happiness, and eternal misery are placed at the end of their course, and, as yet, they know not which fhall be their portion. Onwards they are preffing through a fhort and doubtful pilgrimage, blindfold, and careless of the deftiny that is before them. Ah! my brethren!-what is it you leave in this fearful ftate of doubt? The immortal interefts of your fouls!—You ftand between Heaven and Hell, and it is not yet decided whether, with Lazarus, you fhall be borne by angels into Abraham's bofom, and the eternal manfions of the bleffed, or, with the rich finner, you fhall fink down to unquenchable burnings whence you fhall lift your eyes in vain to the throne of mercy, being in torments. You are haftening to eternity-Concerns of infinite, and everlasting confequence hang on one brief, uncertain moment. Is this a fituation in which you can poffefs your fouls in tranquility? Can you compofe yourselves to peace, and com

mit your immortal happiness to hazard ? Can any zeal, can any labours be too great to establish it upon folid and immoveable foundations? and to fhed upon your last moments the blessed light of hope?—Oh! remember that this is not like the common uncertainties of life in which we may learn leffons of wisdom and prudence from our errors themselves, and time may enable us to repair the effects of past mifcarriagesmifcarriage here is irretrievable-the deftinies of eternity are unchangeable.-God, who is the fovereign arbiter of the times and allotments of men alligns to fome a longer, to others a fhorter period-but, to none does he ever permit a repetition, or a prolongation of their trial. Death is the point that fixes their ftate for eternity.According to the deeds done in the body they fhall be judged. All their works prefs round the foul in that important and decifive moment, and follow her to the great tribunal. If they have been evil, no resource, no hope remains. On fhe muft go to her deftiny. Neither prayers, nor tears, nor vows, nor the anguifh of perifhing guilt can change, or fufpend the fatal decree.

When we reflect, then, on the extreme uncertainty of life, and the infinite importance of dying well, what can juftify that imprudent, that unaccountable forgetfulness of death in which the great mass of mankind feem profoundly buried? My young friends! do you rely upon your youth, as if just entering on the morning of life, they had a long day before them, and ample time to indulge in pleasure? Ah! youth is a tender flower that often decays as foon as it is blown. The tenderness and delicacy of the human frame in this period, its paffions, its exceffes, its indifcretions, its inexperience render it more exposed than any other age to fatal accidents. Do you truft to the vigor of your health? Not to mention how often we have feen habitual decrepitude and infirmity wrapped in the fame thoughtleffnefs of their approaching change, what is health but a vapour fcattered by the lighteft breath? What is vigor but augmented fuel for the most violent diforders? How often have we feen the most luxuriant ftrength fuddenly fall under the all-destroying fcythe of death, as if God had mowed, it down on purpose to fhew how little we

ought to confide in it? If it were more durable than it is, what is the longeft life allotted to man but a hafty vision that flies like a dream, as rapid, and almost as unsubftantial? Nay, what is the whole fucceffion of ages fince the commencement of time in which generations and empires have appeared and paffed away like phantoms gliding over the ftage? In relation to eternity, and the great work which we have to fulfil for eternity, how fhort!--Anticipated time seems long to the young and inexperienced, as if they had hours and days, and years to spare; but, when it comes to a close, and they look back upon it, it appears, as a moment, as a point, as nothingit is vanished, and its duties, perhaps, remain unfulfilled. Life is fluctuating with perpetual uncertainty, and is haftening to lofe itfelf in eternity. Vain mortals are borne down the ftream of time as on the bofom of a mighty river on which they inceffantly disappear and fucceed one another in the midst of its tempefluous waves. At no moment are they fecure-they ought , therefore to be always prepared for an event that every moment may furprize them. Watch, therefore, for ye know neither