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SBRM.
XXXIX.]
THE RIGHT IMPROVEMENT
OF
LIFE.
'I49
ii.wfnl
moment,
must
be for
ever undone.
At
the voice
of
the summons
we
must
go,
whether pardoned or
un-
pardoned, whether
holy
or
unholy,
whether hoping
or
despairing. And
a dreadful spectacle
it
is,
as
your
eyes
ever
beheld, to see
a
sinner expiring
in full
and raging
despair.
But
O,
what
infinite
advantage
has
it
been to chris-
tians,
that
they have enjoyed this golden
hour
of
grace,
and
been
taught to
improve
it
well
!
What
had become
of
you, O
believers,
if
ye had, been
arrested
some
years
ago
by
the messenger
of
death, and
hurried
away
into
eternity
?
Where had your portion
been,
if
ye
had been
sent down
to the grave
in
the midst
of your
sins,
before
you were
awakened or convinced
of
your
folly
and
dan-
ger, before you
had felt inward
repentance,
or
had been
acquainted
with
Jesus that bought and
bestows forgive-
ness
;
before
ye
had known the
virtue
of
his
reconciling
blood,
or
seen the face
of a God
reconciled
?
While
your hearts and
life
were
all
unclean and
unholy,
your
death must have
been dreadful,
and your
soul for
ever
unhappy.
What
infinite
honours
are due to the
patience
and long
-
suffering
of
your God, and to the mercy
and
mediation
of Jesus
your
Saviour?
Glory
be to
divine
patience,
anfl divine
grace,
for
life
prolonged, and a
sin-;
ner
saved
!
II.
Life
is
yours
;
it
is
your opportunity of
doing
much
service
for Christ, and manifesting your
gratitude
for
his
redeeming
love.
2
Cor.
v. 15.
"
They
who live,
should
not henceforth
live to
themselves,
but
to
him
that
died for them,
and
rose again."
Here
on
earth, you
may
speak
of
the wonders
of
his
grace
that
has saved you, and
publish
his love
that
is
unspeakable
:
You
may tell
sinners
of
the infinite di-
mensions
of
this love,
to invite them
to
partake
of
the
same salvation.
Here your lips
and
your tongues
may
be delightfully employed,
in
declaring what
you
have
tasted
of
the blessings
of
the
gospel,
and the grace
of
Christ
;
and
call
others to
"
taste and
see
that
the
Lord
is
good,
and
how
blessed the man
is
that trustetn
In
him
!"
.Ps. xxxiv.
8.
Here
you may
make it
known,
for
the
support of poor
convinced wretches
that
are ready
to
despair, what heights and what lengths,
what breadths
and
what depths
there are
in the love
of Christ
:
for
it
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