D2 SC. II.] THE WATCHFUL CHRISTIAN DYING IN PEACE. 353 plied to the hour of death also, for then the Lord comes to shut up the scene of each of our lives, our works are then finished, our last day is corne, and the world is then at an endwith us. Let it be observed, ,also, that there is a further parallel between the.dáy of the general judgment, and that of our own death: The one will as certainly come as the Other, but the time when Christ will corne, in either of these senses,_ is unknown to us,. and uncertain : And it is this, whiçh renders the duty of perpetual watchfulness so necessary to all men. The parable assures us, that our Lord will certainly come, but whether at the second, or third watch, whether at midnight, or at cock-crow- ing, or near the morning; this is all uncertainty; yet whensoever he comes, he expects we should have our loins girded, like servants fit for business, and our lamps burning, to attend him at the door, and that we be ready to receive him as soon as he knocks. Were the appointed hour of judgment, or of death, made known to us for months or years before -hand, we should be ready to Think, constant watchfulness a very needless thing. Mankind would persuade themselves, to indulge their foolish and sinful slumbers, and only take care to rub their eyes a little, and bestir themselves an hour or two before this ;Awful event : But it is the sud- denness and uncertainty of the coming of ` Christ to all mankind, for either of these purposes, that extends the charge of ,watchfulness to all men; as well as to the apos- tles; Mark xiii. 35, 36, 37. and that calls upon us aloud, to keep our souls ever awake, lest; as our Lord there ex- presses it, " lest, coming suddenly, he should find us. sleeping. And remember this, that,4ifwe are unprepared tomeet the Lord at death, we can never be ready when he comes to judgment : Peace and blessedness attend the watchful christian, whensoever his Lord cometh. "Blessed is that servánt,'whom, when his Lord cometh, he shall find watching." 'This leads me to the second general head. iw Secondly, What is implie in watchfulness. Answer. In general it is opposed to sleeping, as I have already hinted, in Mark xiii. 35, 36. And, in the lance; aae of scripture, as well as in common speech, sleep and slum- ber denote an unpreparedness to receive what ever. VOL. II. A
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