imperfect sketch of the good and bad man in his laft moments.

Let us then fuppofe ourselves admitted to the melancholy couch of the profligate and abandoned finner, at the dreadful hour of his diffolution, after a life fpent in the service of vice and debauchery; let us behold this fon of pleasure, now fixed on the rack of pain, this gay and thoughtlefs libertine funk into the deepeft forrow, and groaning beneath the horrors of defpair: he fees the hand of death lifted up against him, and trembles at the impending ftroke; he beholds the grave opening before him, and fhudders at the affrightning profpects; the wounds of confcience grow every moment more wide and painful, and the fting of fin penetrates too deep to admit of comfort or confolation; whilft memory holds a glafs that calls to mind each word and action of his life, and as they pass in review before him, gives every one of them a dagger to plant in his heart. The prodigal, who had fquandered away fo many precious years, now pleads only for one added moment, but pleads perhaps in vain; he is fummoned hence by his Creator, his follies unrepented, his crimes unexpiated and unatoned; he quits the dreadful fcene in defpair, horror, and confufion, and in agony launches forth into the boundless ocean of eternity.

But what his diforder inflicts is light in comparison of what it threatens: every pang which he feels is but an earneft of future torment, and the anticipation of eternal mifery;

he

he confiders not only that he is leaving a world of joy and pleasure, but that he is leaving it for a world of pain and forrow; not only that he is going, but whither alfo, and to whom? to a God whom he hath long offended, and to a punishment which he has long deferved. Memory, which perhaps for a while had quitted her feat, returns with fresh vigour, to reproach him for those follies which reafon could not prevent. What would he now give for that infenfibility from which he is juft awakened, or that reft which hath now forfaken him. How fudden and how astonishing a change is now worked in him! he who had fo long defied the power, or perhaps even doubted the exif tence of a God, now trembles at his justice, and implores his mercy; he who had derided the doctrines, and denied the miracles of Christ, now intreats for forgiveness, and fues for his interceffion.

But let us quit an image which we cannot contemplate without horror, and turn our eyes towards a fairer profpect, and a brighter example; let us behold that in another, which we thould imitate ourselves, and confider the death of the righteous.

Obferve, as you approach his bed, the sweet compofure of his mind, and the calm ferenity of his afpect: he bears the pains of his diftemperature with manly vigour and refolution; fubmits with patience to the feeble refources of human art, but at the fame time relies only on the divine affiftance, well knowing that wheu God calleth, man must obey: his foul, which is on the wing towards heaven,

looks

poor

inhabitants

looks down as it were on the of earth ftill doomed to the wearifome pilgrimage of this life; he longeth, with the holy apoftle, to be diffolved, and to be with Chrift. Thus, as his body finks, his foul afpires, as his earthly and material part decays, his spiritual and heavenly gains more ftrength and vigour, till at length he rejoices in the feparation, looks on the king of terrors with a fmile of complacency, and with all calmness and humility refigns his life into the hands of him who gave it.

Oh death, where is thy fting? oh grave, where is thy victory?

Is there upon earth a being in all the pride of health, affluence, and profperity, who would not envy the good man fuch an exit? This is a poor and imperfect, but at the fame time a true picture of that interefting scene in which we must all one day be actors; let us confider then which of thefe we would wish to reprefent. Since none of us can tell how foon he may be called away from this tranfitory life, fince in every short portion of our existence death may come fuddenly upon us, furely we fhould always be prepared to receive him, that fo we may die the death of the righteous, and that our latter end may be like his.

And first then: The ftriking contraft which I have juft now fet before you, may suggest fome ufeful reflections to the young, the thoughtlefs, and the gay.

To call on those who are but in the beginning of life to prepare for the latter end of it,

to

to talk of death to him who hath but just learnt to live, may indeed be deemed a fruitless admonition; and yet, fuch is the inftability of all human things, fo uncertain is the number of our days, that the caution is by no means unneceffary, the advice by no means unimportant. How often doth it happen that the promifing fpring of life, with all its delightful bloom, is at once cut off by fome fatal unexpected blaft! how often doth the undiftinguishing scythe of death mow down the bloffoms of youth and beauty! how often doth the unhappy father lament the unexpected lofs of his beloved fon, and the weeping mother attend her daughter to the grave! If we look back in fearch of those who trod with us the paths of life in our earlier years, where is the gay circle of our former friends, where are all the lively companions of our youth; how few of them fhall we find! how many of thofe, whom we remember flourishing like the green bay-tree, are now cut down, dried up, and withered. Were they prepared for that fate which fo fuddenly overtook them? did they live the life, and if they did not, could they poffibly ever die the death of the righteous? Should we not then be every day and every hour preparing for that great event, which every day and every hour may produce: In the days of thy youth therefore remember thy Creator; it may be too late for thee, O man! when thy feet are ftumbling on the dark mountains, and the fhadows of the evening have overtaken thee!

But fecondly: When we arrive at the state of manhood, when our understanding is ftrengthened by judgment, and our reafon aided by experience, when every day brings with it fresh convictions of the vanity of human life, one would think, men should naturally turn their thoughts towards fomething ferious and important, fhould confider their latter end, and prepare themselves for it. And yet I know not how it is, but this period of life, though most fit and able, is of all leaft willing to receive inftruction, to think on the one thing needful, and to prepare for their latter end. The paffions have now taken deep root in the heart, and are not without difficulty to be eradicated; we are fo bufied in the affairs of this life, that we cannot look forwards to another; and yet a ferious attention to this point is perhaps more ufeful and neceffary at this than at any other period of our exiftence;-this is the great crifis of our conduct which muft determine our final fentence, which muft fix us in the practice of virtue or vice: if we deviate from the right path in this part of our journey, we shall scarce ever ftrike into it again.-A God of mercy may pardon the inadvertencies of youth, but a God of justice will certainly punish the faults of our riper years.

Need I, thirdly and laftly, add an exhortation to those who are ftill farther advanced in life? can they want a monitor to put them in mind of mortality, who muft every hour be more and more fenfible of their approaching diffolution? Little will it profit us in that hour

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