DISCOURSE III. 93 drop in before your hopes of life and immortality are secured, and a joyful resurrection ? You pass, perhaps, many nights, wherein the infirmities of your flesh will not suffer you to sleep, and to take that common refreshment of nature ; and shall not these same infirmities keep you awake to things spiritual, and rouse all your thoughts and cares about your immortal interests ? 2. You, whose circumstances or employments of life expose you to perpetual dangers, either by land or by sea ; you who carry your lives, as it were, in your hand, and are often in a day, within a few inches of death ; is it not necessary for you to en- quire daily, Am L prepared for a departure hence? Am I ready to hear the summons of my Lord, and ready to give up my ac- count before him ? Shall I dare go on another day with my sins unpardoned, with my soul unsanctified, and in immediate danger of eternal misery ? A fall from a horse, or a house-top, may send you down to the pit whence there is no redemption ; every wind that blows, and every rising wave may convey yoù into the eternal world, and are you ready to meet the great God in such a surprize, and without warning ? 3. You who are young and vigorous, and flourish amidst all the gaities and allurements of life, you are in most danger of being lulled asleep in sin, and therefore I addressed you lately in a funeral discourse, when the present providence gave each of you a new and loud call to awake, and I pray God you may hear his voice in it. 4. Perhaps others of you are arrived at old age, and the course of nature forbids you to expect a long continuance in the land of the living : Are any of my hearers ancient sinners, and asleep still ? Venturous and thoughtless creatures ! that have grown old in slumber, and worn out their whole life in iniquity! Surely, it is time for you to hear the voice of the Son of God in the gospel, and accept of his salvation : " Behold, the judge is at the door !" he comes speedily, and he will not tarry ; his herald of death is just at hand : Are you willing he should seize you nn a deadly sleep, and send you into eternal sorrows ? And let aged christians bestir themselves, and awake from their sloth- ful and secure frames of spirit; let them look upward to the crown that is not far off, to the prize that is almost within reach: Whatsoever your hand or heart find to do for God, do it with all your zeal and might ; Eccles. ix. 10. Let your loins be girded about, and your natural powers active in his service, let your lampof profession be bright and burning, that when Jesus comes,, ye may receive him with joy; Luke xii. 35, 36. 5. And are there any of you, that are under decays of grace and piety, that are labouring and wrestling with strong corrup- tions; or in actual conflict with repeated temptations, which too
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=