mortal souls, and engaging, with supreme fidelity, in the service of that God who claims our obedience by so many powerful obligations-to sacrifice our real perfection and happiness by neglecting to enter on the ways of religion, whose ways are ways of pleasantness, and all whose paths are peace would justly subject us to the charge of insensibility and folly. But to postpone an attention to these infinitely important concerns, when we are every moment exposed to that event which will close our earthly probation, and consign us to an everlasting destiny-to delay our preparation for the day of our Lord's coming, when we know that it may come upon us in the hour when we least expect it-what an infatuation is this! Yet, alas! it is the infatuation that marks the conduct of the great bulk of mankind. There are few of them who, like the profane scorner, harden their hearts in the impious belief that there is no God, no judgment, and no eternity. The salvation of their souls, they are generally ready to acknowledge, is a concern of the first importance, to which they ought to attend; an interest which they ought to secure. It is assigned, however, to some future period, when the sinful pleasures, that now engross them, have been tasted to the full, or lost their attractions. Infatuated mortal! what assurance hast thou, that thy life will be prolonged to the period, which thou hast assigned for the commencement of the work of thy salvation?

Thou art now contemning the mercy, and rejecting the grace of thy Lord. And dost thou build

thy security on the presumptuous expectation, that he will delay his coming till it suits thy criminal pursuits and guilty pleasures to attend to His invitations? Presumptuous servant,-" thy Lord will come in a day when thou lookest not for him, and in an hour that thou art not aware of, and will cut thee asunder, and will assign thee a portion with the unbelievers: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

The present, brethren, is the appointed time; to-day is the day of salvation. Let us then make haste, and delay not, to keep the commandments of God. Let us not postpone an attention to the things that belong to our eternal peace, lest the day of the Lord come, and they are hidden for ever from our eyes.

III. Lastly; let the uncertainty of the time of our Lord's coming, impress on us the necessity of being diligent, zealous, and faithful in the exercises and duties of the Christian life.

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might, for there is neither work, nor labour, nor device, in the grave, whither thou art going "." This is an admonition, which may be applied with peculiar force to the Christian. The duties of that holy calling which he is bound to discharge, and

a Eccles. ix. 10.

in the discharge of which he is patiently to look for everlasting rewards, are so numerous, so important, and so arduous, that they require the utmost exertion, and demand constant watchfulness and zeal. The uncertainty of the time when he will be summoned to give an account of his stewardship, should lead him to still greater vigilance and exertions. So strong are the ties which bind him to the service of his God; so weighty is the debt of gratitude which he owes to Him, who bought him with his blood; and so infinitely above his highest merits are the glorious rewards that await him; that he must be deeply sensible that the best service of the longest life will be too feeble to testify his allegiance and his gratitude to his God and Saviour. What a powerful motive, then, to the most ardent zeal, to the most active assiduity in our Christian calling, exists in the consideration, that perhaps the time will be even shorter than the usual course of human life, which is allotted us to shew forth the loving kindness of the Lord; and to glorify, by a holy life, our Redeemer and God. Let us then be vigilant and faithful, Christians, in the cultivation of the graces of our holy profession, and in the discharge of its sacred duties. Let the uncertainty of the time, when our Lord will call us to his heavenly kingdom, quicken our pious affections, and increase our exertions in his service. The day of his coming will not then find us unprepared. The summons of death will be but the

prelude to the joyful sentence from the lips of our Redeemer and Judge. "Well done, good and faithful servants. Enter into the joy of your

Lord."

When we are not aware, the day of the Lord will come. And it is that day on which we are told, "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up"." "And the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God. "But who may abide the day of his coming, and who may stand when he appeareth."

If those heavens were now to be rolled up as a scroll, and depart away; if the elements around us were now to melt with fervent heat; if the sun were now to be turned into blackness, and the moon into blood; if these portentous events were now to occur, and to announce the second coming of the Saviour of the world, what would be our emotions! The prospect of that day, when, with an assembled universe, we are to stand at the tribunal of the Judge of quick and dead, and receive our eternal doom, sometimes fills us with apprehension and terror. And if even the anticipation of the awful scenes of the last judgment, feebly as imagination pourtrays them, be thus dismaying, what

b 2 Pet. iii. 10.

c 1 Thess. iv. 16.

emotions will the awful reality excite. Let us prepare-Oh! let us prepare, for the coming of our Lord. For he will come in a day that we think not of, and in an hour that we are not aware.

Christians, be always ready-always watchful, diligent, instant in prayer-stedfast to your God, walking in his commandments and ordinances blameless, and immoveable in faith, though the temptations and the sorrows of the world assail you-always abounding in the work of the Lordyour loins girt, and your lamps burning, waiting in humble hope for his coming. Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find thus watching. Lift up your heads, O Christians, for the day of your complete redemption is Your Redeemer appears to reward his saints, to confer everlasting gladness upon his people. He is come to wipe away all tears from your eyes-to lead you from the unsatisfying pleasures of the world, to "fountains of living water," those substantial joys that are at God's right hand for evermore. Hear him pronounce the sentence: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." "Be ye always ready-for the Lord will come in a day when we look not for him, and in an hour when we are not aware."

come.

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