401 / 674
DISC.
III.]
SURPRIZE IN DEATH.
381
is possible
we
may have
a right
to the
inheritance
of
heaven;
having
had some
sight
of it
by
faith, as
revealed
in
the
gospel, having,
in the main, chosen
it
for
our
portion, and set our feet
in
the path
Of
holiness
that
leads
to
it;
but
we
have
so
often wandered
out
of
the
way,
that
in
this awful and solemn
hour,
we
shall
be
in
doubt, whether
we
shall
be
received
at
the
gates,
and
enter. into the
city.
Such
unwatchful christians have
not kept the eternal
glories
of
heaven
in
their constant and
active
pursuit,
they have
not
lived
upon
them
as
their portion and.in-
heritance,
they have been
too much
strangers
to the
in-
visible world
of
happiness,
and
they know
not
how
to
venture through death into
it.
They
have
built indeed,
upon
the
solid
foundation,
Christ
Jesus
and the
gospel,
but
they have
mingled
so
much
hay
and stubble
with
the
superstructure,
that
when they
depart
hence,
or
when
they
appear
before
Christ
in
judgment,
they shall,suffèr
great
loss,
by
the
burning
of
their
works,
yet themselves
may
be
saved,
so as by fire,
1
Cor.
iii. 10
-15.
They
may
pass, as
it
were,
by
the
flame
of
hell,
and
have
something
like
the
scorching
terrors
of it
in
death,
though
the abounding and
forgiving
grace
of
the gospel
may
convey
them
safe to
heaven
:
They escape
as
a
man
that
is
awakened
with
the sudden alarms
of
fire,
who
suffers the
loss
of
his
substance,
and
a
great part of
the
fruit
of
his
labours,
and
just
saves
his own life.
They
plunge into eternity, and make
a
sort
of
terrible
escape
from
hell:
2.
"
They
can
never expect any peculiar
favours
from
heaven
at
the
hour of
death, no special visitations
of
the
comforting Spirit,
nor
that
the
love
of
God, and the
joy
of
his
presence, should
attend
them
through
the
dark
valley."
It
is
not
to
such
unwatchful or
sleepy
christians,
that
God
is
wont
to
vouchsafe
his
choicest consolations
They
fall
under terrible
fears,
'about
the
pardon
of their
sins, when
they
stand
in
most need
of
the sight
of
their
pardon
;
and Christ, as
the
ruler of
his
church,
sees
it
fit
they should be thus
punished for their
negligence.-
They
lay hold
of
the promises
of
mercy with a
trembling
hand,
and
cannot
claim
them
by
a vigorous
faith,
be-
cause they have
not
been wont
to live
upon them,
nor
do
they see
those holy
characters
in
their
own
hearts