UI THE WOttt.D TO COME. often prevail over you ? it becomes you to hear the watch -words which Christ often gives to his churches under such circum- stances : Make haste and awake unto holiness, " be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain that are ready to the : hold fast what thou hast received ;" Rev. iii. 2, 12. remember thy first affection and zeal, and repent and mourn for what thou hast lost, lest I come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know the hour ; Remember whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works, for thou past lost rh_a first love; Rev. ii. 3, 4. Have a care of dangerous lukewarmness and indifference in the things of religion. This is the very temper of a sleepy, declining christian, while he dreams he is rich, and has great attainments : Take heed lest presuming upon thy riches and thy self - sufficiency, thou shouldst be found wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; Rev. iii. 16. Keep your souls awake hourly, and be upon your guard against every adversary, and every defilement, lest ye be seized away in the commission of some sin, or in the compliance with some foul temptation. The drowsy soldier is liable to be led captive, and to die in fetters, and groan heavily in death. But blessed is the watchful christian, he shall be found amongst the overcomers, and shall partake of the rich . -variety of divine favours, which are contained in the epistles to the seven churches; Rev. chapters ii. and iii. Though the greatest part of a former discourse has been describing the blessedness of a watchful christian at the hour of death, and in this I have set before you the sad consequences that attend sleepers, both which are powerful preservatives against drowsi- Hess, yet at the conclusion of this sermon, give me leave to add a few more motives to the duty of watchfulness, for we cannot be too well guarded against the danger of spiritual sloth and security. Motive I. " Our natures at best in the present state, are too much inclined to slumber." We are too ready to fall asleep hourly : All the saints on earth, even the most lively and active of them, are not out of danger, while they carry this flesh and blood about them. Indeed the best of christians here below, dwell but as it were in twilight, and in some sense, they may be described as persons between sleeping and waking, in com- parison of the world of spirits. We behold divine things here but darkly, and exert our spiritual faculties but in a feeble man - ner : It is only in the other world that we are broad awake, and in the perfect and unrestrained exercise of our vital powers; there only the complete life and vigour of a saint appears. In such a drowsy state then, and in this dusky hour, we cannot be too diligent in rousing ourselves, lest we sink down into danger- out: slumbers. Besides if we profess to be children of the light asid of the day, and growing up to a brighter immortality, let
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