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over to a false peace and a silent conscience; that he will open our eyes that we sleep not in death.

For what an awful thing it is to reflect that there should be any one here present, who should not find the gate of life; that any one of us, who meet here together of a Sunday, should, when he dies (that is to say, in the course of a few years), find the door of heaven for ever shut against him! That this should be the case with any one in the place where we live, with any one whom we know and see; what a moving, what a concerning thought is this! And yet, if this thought is so sad and awful, what is it to reflect, that the way of destruction is broad, and many there be who go in thereat, and that few find the gate of life. And therefore, among any considerable number of persons, such as meet together in any one place, it is probable that the many are in the way of destruction, and few in the way of heaven. Who they are, who are right and who are wrong, does not concern us, for the great day only will reveal it: we must judge nothing before the time; but this reflection does concern us very deeply with respect to ourselves. For each one should consider for himself alone, that it is not very improbable that he may himself fail of his great prize; that without great pains he certainly will do so; that he must lower and humble himself very much, if he would enter in at the narrow gate.

SERMON LXVI.

THE DOOR CLOSED.

ST. LUKE xiii. 25.

"When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door."

It is impossible to conceive anything more awful, than those many expressions in Holy Scripture which speak of the door being closed, and the like.

The thought of the door shut, and no hope of its ever being again opened, and the warning given us, to take heed lest we be found without, should lead us to consider habitually the great value of each day which is given us before that time.

The words of our blessed Lord we may be quite sure set before our minds the closest resemblance, the most perfect description, which our thoughts are capable of forming, of the circumstance of those who will find themselves set without when they die :-of those who "When once the have lost for ever their great prize. Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door!"

to us.

The same expression is used in the parable of the foolish virgins: "The bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him, and the door was shut ;" then came the other virgins saying, "Lord, Lord, open Our Savior here seems to liken their condition to those who come too late to a feast, and find they are shut out when it is all light and rejoicing within, and without nothing but darkness and misery, no place to turn to, no one to flee unto. But what is implied in all these places is, that there is no chance of the door being

ever again opened, and therefore their condition is described with the most dreadful symptoms of human anguish, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and ye yourselves thrust out."

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Many other are the ways in which the same thing are described, which is here spoken of as the door being closed; it is like the flood which came "when they knew not," that is, considered not, "and took them all away; or, "where the tree falleth there it must lie;" which words tell us that at the death of each this irreparable condition has come. And, "whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge in the grave whither thou goest. It is described to us as being like the condition of Esau, when he lifted up the exceeding bitter cry, finding that he had thrown away his birthright; for "he found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." And our blessed Lord has put it before us in a still more striking way, by giving us the account of the condition of a man who has found himself thus placed, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus: "Between us and you," said Abraham unto him, "there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence." Everything that has happened both in this and in the other world was equally known to our Savior, and therefore in this parable he may have been describing a circumstance that has really happened in the other world; but at all events we may be sure that it furnishes us with the most accurate and exact picture, which can be formed, of that condition.

In other places our mortal condition is likened to a day in which our appointed work must be done, or not at all: our blessed Lord, out of warning to us, is pleased to speak thus of his own appointed course upon earth,

"I must work the work of him that sent me while it is day, the night cometh, when no man can work."

The fast approach of such a time as this must make us all see the necessity of our being safe and right, in all matters that can never then be corrected or amended; what that time finds undone, must continue undone for ever no availing prayer can be offered, no work can be done which can be put into the scale of our everlasting condition.

And if our Lord has expressed to us in these very awful words, the exceeding importance of that moment which is overtaking us all, one after another; when the door is closed and the unworthy are shut out: he has made use of another expression not very unlike it, to describe the exceeding happiness of our present condition as compared with it, "knock and it shall be opened unto you ;" and "every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." And that we may not be disheartened by any fear of failure, if our requests do not appear to be immediately answered, he has given us a very encouraging and consoling parable to urge us not to give over our importunity, "Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey has come to me and I have nothing to set before him: and he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed: I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth." And to which parable our Lord has added, "if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

From which, and like expressions, we may see that the more serious sense we have of that awful condition, where there is no place for repentance, the more shall we feel the great value and privilege, the extreme bles

sing of our present state. Surely nothing can show more strongly the worth of every day and every hour that is given to us; every day and every hour we can ask, and we never can ask seriously without receiving: and what would they give for one day and for one hour, who are now shut without the gate, without any hope of its being again opened?

But why are we so slow to value them? why do we so little consider their importance, that of each day that passes over our heads, and bears us on to that great interminable, unchangeable sea?

This our extreme unwillingness, and the exceeding desire of our heavenly Father that we should turn to him, our blessed Lord is pleased to set before us by another form of the same expression. He has graciously condescended to describe himself as the person who is knocking and seeking for entrance, and ourselves as they who have power to let him in, as if all the importunity, all the desire were on his part; and on our part the reluctance to admit him in this our day. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me.”

And we may well suppose, that a great part of our Lord's affliction upon earth, was to know and witness among mankind this indifference; to look round upon the world, and to see so many thousands with no care or concern whatever to knock, while the door will be assuredly opened to their knocking; and to see also so many thousands in the other world, unseen by us in the flesh, who would give worlds to have the power of being admitted once more to the possibillity of pardon, but having no hope; for to them "the Master hath risen up and shut to the door, and they began to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to And to see so many upon earth passing from one of these states into the other so very fast, of all ages of life as soon as they are born, hastening to an end. This consideration gives a peculiar force to all our Lord's words, as he spoke as one who had both worlds

us."

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