member that St. John the Baptist began his preaching by saying, "Repent ye '," and that our Saviour Himself in the opening of his ministry enforced the same duty. A precept which is urged on such authority, and is singled out from all others so as to be first presented to us for our observance, should receive our immediate and earnest attention. The duty of repentance should not be delayed; for we know not how soon the opportunity may be taken away by sickness and death. It should not be carelessly performed; for unless it be sincere, we shall not obtain remission of our sins: we should therefore pray that the Holy Spirit, without whom we can do nothing, would awaken our souls, convince them of sin, and impress upon them a deep contrition for all those faults of omission and commission, whether of ignorance, presumption, or infirmity, which self-examination in the strict survey of our past lives may have spread before us. We should also pray that Almighty God, by the same Spirit, would somewhat proportion our sense of sorrow to the great number and aggravated nature of our sins, and to the infinite hatred of all sin by Him who is perfect in holiness, purity, and justice. To quicken the sense of contrition we should re

1 Matt. iii. 2.

2 Mark i. 15.

member, that these sins have been committed against our best Friend, our loving Father and kind Protector, who instead of cutting us off in the midst of our sins, has mercifully preserved us and brought us through many dangers unto this day for the gracious purpose of amendment; and for this end has given us Apostles, and prophets, and evangelists, and pastors, and teachers, to warn us to forsake our sins, and to persuade us to turn to Him, that we may not die eternally; and also has sent His beloved Son into the world, that whosoever believeth on Him may have everlasting life. These considerations ought to impart sincerity to our repentance, and poignancy of spirit to our contrition. I will only add, that if we would set apart some time in which to withdraw from the world and confess our sins to God, recounting and calling them by name, a very important and necessary link would be supplied between selfexamination and repentance. If we could be persuaded to adopt this practice, a desire for holiness would lead to self-examination, and selfexamination with confession of sins would prepare the way for daily repentance and daily petitions for the remission of our sins. By so doing we shall experience also this unspeakable advantage, that when we arrive at our last hour the number and weight of our unrepented, unforgiven sins,

which would otherwise have appalled the soul, will thus have been so gradually and sensibly lessened, that the spirit, freed from all fear and amazement, may have liberty to contemplate in a tranquil frame the remaining steps of her progress to a glorious eternity.

The fifth rule to be observed in a preparation for a happy death is, to cultivate the spirit of prayer. Prayer is a channel by which God conveys to us supplies of faith, holiness, self-knowledge, and repentance, of which we have already spoken, together with love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, and all those graces and virtues which cheer the Christian in life, and comfort him in the hour of death. No man who lives in the neglect of prayer, public or private, is fit for death or judgment. To remind us of our own mortality, and to prevent too great an attachment to the changeful scenes of life, our prayers should frequently turn upon those things which we are too apt to forget, or are not desirous to remember, the uncertainty of life, and the need of Divine grace in the trying scenes of sickness and death. Before we enter the house of prayer, and before we bend the knee in our more private devotions, let us frequently and seriously, in imagination, place ourselves on our death-bed, and ask ourselves what are the dispositions with

which we would then pray, and what are the things which would then appear most necessary for us to obtain; with an eternal world before us, and the judgment-seat of Christ almost in view, what wrestling in prayer! what earnestness! what solemnity! But let us remember that we have the same souls to be lost or saved, the same boundless eternity outstretched before us, and the same Judge waiting to approve or condemn. A consideration that "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," the graves will be opened, and the dead awakened by the sound of the trump and the voice of God, to give an account of the things done in the body, whether they be good or whether they be evil, will make the wise and prudent "watch and pray.”

The sixth rule to be observed in our preparation for a happy death is, that we read daily some portion of the word of God. There are few parts of the Divine Word more deeply affecting, more awfully impressive, or more full of practical wisdom, than those which speak of the shortness and uncertainty of life, and the danger of being unprepared for death and judgment. Man is therein likened to the most changeable, shortlived, swift, and evanescent things in creation. He is a vapour which appeareth for a little while, then vanisheth away; a flower which fadeth; a

post which passeth by; an eagle which darteth through the air; a ship which courseth through the sea; a shuttle which shoots through the web; a leaf which falls and dies. In the same Holy Scriptures we read those precepts which are suitable to this our frail condition: "Watch and pray;" "Be ye also ready;" "And because the Lord will do this thing unto thee, O Israel, prepare to meet thy God!" "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom;" "O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!" The same Holy Scriptures which so frequently and forcibly press these most solemn truths and precepts upon our minds, reveal to us for our encouragement the glorious scenes of immortality and the resurrection to eternal life.

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We should also read the Holy Scriptures daily, because by an acquaintance with them we may "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," whom to know is life eternal'. Our unceasing contact with an evil world secretly forms within us principles and practices which would unfit us for heaven, the presence of God, and the society of just men made perfect; and it is only by daily reading the Holy Scriptures,

32 Pet. iii. 18.

4 John xvii. 3.