a0 THE WORLD To COME. sting or no : Whether it be taken away by the blood of Christ ? Is this blood sprinkled on my conscience, by the humble exercise of faith on a dying Saviour ? Are the terrors of death removed, and am I prepared to meet it by the sanctifying influences of the blessed Spirit ? Have I such an interest in the covenant of grace as takes away the sting of death, as turns the curse into a blessing, and changes the dark scenes of death into the com- mencement of a new and everlasting life? This is that prepa- ration for dying for which our time of life was given us, and happy are those who are taught of God to make this use of it. Judgment is making haste towards us ; mouths and days of divine patience are flying swift away, and the last great day is just at hand : Then we must gire an account of all that has been done in the body, whether it has been good or evil; 2 Coro r... 10. And what a dismal and distressing surprize will it be, to have the Judge come upon us in a blaze of glory and terror, while we have no good account to give at his demand ? And yet this is the very end and design of all our time, which is lengthened out to us on this side the grave, and of all the advantages that we have enjoyed in this life, that we may be ready to render up our account, with joy to the Judge of all the earth. Heaven is not ours by birth and inheritance, as lands and house's on earth descend to us from our earthly parents. We as well as they are by nature unfit for heaven and children of wrath ; but we may be born again, we may be born of God, and become heirs of the heavenly inheritance through Jesus Christ: We may he renewed into the temper and spirit of heaven ; and this life is the only season that is given us for this important change: Shall we let our days and years pass away, one after another in ,long succession, and continue the children of wrath still ? Are we contented to go on this year as the last, without a title to heaven, without a divine temper, and without any pre- paration for the business, or the blessedness of that happy world ? VI. When this life comes to an end, " the time of all our èarthly comforts and amusements shall be no more." We shall have none of these sensible things around us to employ or enter- tain our eyes or our ears, to gratify our appetites, to sooth our passions, or to support our spirits in distress. All the infinite variety of cares, labours and joys, which surrounded us here, shall be no more ; life with all the busy scenes, and the pleas - ing satisfactions of it dissolve and perish together.: Have a care then that you do not make any of there your chief hope, for they are but the things of time, they are all short and dying en- joyments. Under the various calamities of this life we find a variety
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