DISCOURSE III. Surprize in Death. Mark xiii. 35, 30. Watch ye, therefore ;lest, coming sud denly, he find you sleeping. AMONG the parables of our Saviour, there are several recorded by the evangelists, which represent him as a prince, or lord and master of a family, departing for a season from his servants, and in his absence, appointing them their proper work, with a solemn charge, to wait for his return ; at which time, he foretold them, that he should require an account of their beha- viour in his absence ; and he either intimates, or expresses a severe treatment of those who should neglect their duty while he was gone, or make no preparation for his appearance. He in- forms them also, that be should come upon them on a sudden, and for this reason charges them to be always awake, and upon their guard, verse 35. Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, whether at even, or at midnight, or at the cock - crowing, or in the morning. Though the ultimate design of these parables, and the com- ing of Christ mentioned therein, refer to the great day of judg- ment, when he shall return from heaven, shall raise the dead, and call mankind to appear before his judgment -seat, to receive a recompence according to their works ; yet both the duties and the, warnings, which are represented in these parables, seem to be very accommodable to the hour of our death ; for then our Lord Jesus, who has the keys of death and the grave, and the unseen world, comes to finish our state of trial, and to put a period to all our works on earth : He comes then to call us into the invisible state; be disposes our bodies to the dust, and our souls are sent into other mansions,' and taste some degrees of appointed happiness or misery, according to their behaviour here. The solemn and awful warning, which my text gives us con- cerning the return of Christ to judgment, may be pertinently applied to the season when he shall send his messenger of death to fetch us hence : Watch ye, therefore, -- -lest, coming suddenly he find you sleeping. When I had occasion to treat on a subject near a -kin to this,* I sheaved, that there was distinction to be made between the dead sleep of sinner, and the slumber of an unwatchful chris- tian.. Those who never had the work of religion begun in their hearts or lives, are sleeping the sleep of death ; whereas some who are made alive by the grace of Christ, yet may indulge sinful drowsiness, and grow careless 'and secure, slothful add * to a funeral sermon for Mrs. Sarah Abney, on take xii. 37. Blessed ore those servants, whom the Lord, when he comelh, shall find watching. Vat. Vtl, F
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