54S THE RIGHT IMPROVEMENT of LIFE. ii. 2. We all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, f itlfillin the desires of the,fleshand the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, evenas others. Now this life is the time given'to seek deliverance from the wrath to come, to fly to the hope that is set before us ; now is the acceptedtime, now is the day of salvation ; 1 Cor. vi. 2. Now while we are in our state of trial, before the gates of the grave have closedupon us, and before the gates of hell have been opened to receive us. We are all, by nature, strangers to God, enemies in our minds by wicked works, and under sentence of condemnation : Remember, O sinners, this is the time to get acquaintance with God, to return to hisservice, and obtain his special favour. We are defiled and guilty creatures : This is the hour of cleansing while the buntain of the blood of Christ standsopen, to wash us from sin and uncleanness. We are, by nature, utterly unfit for heaven, andall the works and the joys of it, because of the vicious inclinations that govern us. This is the day of repentance as well as pardon : This is the day given to us to insure those bles- sed mansions on high, and to obtain preparing graces. This temporal life isthe only season, wherein the sentence of our con- demnation can be reversed, and whereinwe may obtain eternal forgiveness, and a right to life everlasting. The blood and righteousness of the Son of God, are not proposed nor offered to guilty creatures in the other world. Now is the time to acquire a meetness for the inheritancein light through the sanctifying in- fluences of the blessed Spirit. After death there isnothing of this kind to be done : 00 There isno work, nor device, no knowledge, nor wisdom, no faith or repentance to be exercised, no such duty to be performed among the dead, no opportunity to rectify the mistakes of life There is nograce to beobtained for sinners in the grave, whither we are all travelling; Eccl. ix. 10. What is left undone at that awful mo- ment, must be for ever undone. At the voice of the summons we must go, whether pardoned or unpardoned, 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 Owhat infinite advantage has it been to christians, 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 messengers of death, and hurried away into eternity ? Wherehad 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 ac-
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