of God, enquire whether you may not be putting it to too great a trial; when you read of death, consider seriously whether you are in a fit state for that momentous event; when you read of Heaven, think whether you have so laboured to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, that you may fairly hope, through the merits of Christ, to find a place there.

And when not reading of these things, still fail not to think of them over and over again; and pray heartily, and frequently to God, for the help of His divine grace, to give effect to your religious thoughts, and to enable you to bring forth the fruits of them in piety, and holiness of life.

SERMON XIX.

NEGLECT OF WARNINGS.

EZEKIEL III. 19.

If thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity.

My brethren, since I last addressed you, death has laid his hand upon us again; we are dropping off one by one; we have hardly time "to lament, saying ah, sister!" before a messenger arrives who bids us exclaim "ah, my brother!" The events of the last few days put one in mind of the rapidity with which Job's misfortunes crowded upon him; while one "was yet speaking," another came with tidings of fresh disasters. So has it been with us; no sooner had one said, "lo, death is here," than another cried out, "lo,

he is there!" It was but last Sunday that I was directing your thoughts to one instance of mortality; and to day I have to remind you of two more. You must have observed that I this morning omitted another name out of our sick list, a name that has been, until now, repeated every time that I have ministered here, and which I believe was a familiar sound within these walls before. But this is not all; I miss a

face also, which used to appear very frequently in this congregation, the face of one who, but a few days ago, little thought that he would never be seen here again.

I have frequently expressed my opinion, that funeral sermons (as they are termed) should have for their object the benefit of the living. I repeat the same thing now, in explanation of my abstaining from all praise or blame of those, whose death has suggested the subject for our present meditations; one of them had a longer warning even than she of whom I spoke on Sunday last; and I have good reason to hope, and believe, that with her, he has also "died in the Lord," and that through the mercy of God, and the all-sufficient merits of our Redeemer, both she and he will appear hereafter in glory, and (to use an expression that was frequently on the lips of our departed brother) that they

will "sing Alleluia before God and the Lamb." From how great pain and misery he has been delivered, I suppose you all have heard, so that to the reasonable hope of the forgiveness of his sins, and of his having entered into happiness, is added the certainty of his being released from a most wretched existence; and when this is considered, how can even his dearest friends refuse consolation, or esteem his death as any thing but the greatest mercy that could be shewn him?

The other, to whom I have alluded, left the world, my brethren, I may say almost without any warning at all. When he laid himself down at night, I believe he had no thought that he should not rise again in the morning; nay, I know not but he might have been looking forwards to many years with as much confidence, as perhaps some of you are at this moment. But I cannot refrain from mentioning a circumstance, which I heard with a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction, that a night or two only before his death he was found alone on his knees, engaged in prayer to God. No man, my brethren, is a hypocrite in private; it is only before the face of the world that men assume a false character; so that I think the incident which I have mentioned, must be very gratifying to those

who have ever seriously thought how dreadful it is to die unprepared. Almighty God may by his grace do much in a short time; and as He disposed him to pray, may we not charitably hope that he "had a favour unto him?" Let us forbear to judge; "judge not," "judge not," says our merciful Saviour," that ye be not judged; condemn not, that ye be not condemned." Let us look to ourselves; and while we endeavour to enter in, when the door of mercy is wide open, let us hope that some may gain admittance, even when it seems to us to be nearly shut.*

It was well said by a wise and pious man,† that if we go to Heaven, two wonders will strike us; one, to find many there, whom we did not expect; the other, to observe that many are absent, whom we expected to meet. No doubt this is very likely; we cannot see into the hearts of men, and are often deceived by exterior appearances; men, who should have seen the Pharisee and the Publican side by side, might have judged most favourably of the Pharisee; but the Searcher of hearts saw more sincerity and religion in the humble prayer for mercy, than in

* Private note of the author." I said this because the poor man had a very bad character, and many uncharitable things were said on the subject of his sudden call.”

+ Tillotson.