night there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom (4.) Again, to the waters of the flood. (5.) Agai fiery rain that fell on Sodom and Gomorrah. ( here, to the sudden coming home of the maste house: "Ye know not when the master of th cometh." Now, my dear friends, I am far from d ing those who, with humble prayerfulness, search records of prophecy to find out what God has said second coming of the Son of Man. We are not lik disciples of Jesus, if we do not often put the "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of t the world?" But the truth which I wish to be w your hearts is this: That the coming shall be sudd den to the world-sudden to the children of G such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man "Ye know not when the master of the house co even, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the Oh, my friends! your faith is incomplete, if you d in the daily faith of a coming Saviour.

V. Watch: "And what I say Watch."-Verse 37.

unto you I say

1. Ministers should watch. This word is espe dressed to the porter: "Watch ye, therefore." watchful we should be. Many things make us sle Want of faith. When a minister loses sight of C cified-risen-coming again-then he cannot souls. Pray that your ministers may have a wat always on Christ. (2.) Seeing so many careless s you little know how this staggers the ministers A young believer comes with a glowing heart Christ, and pardon, and the new heart. He kn the truth of God-he states it simply, freely, wi heart-he presses it on men-he hopes to see t like icicles before the sun-alas! they are as cold as ever. They live on in their sins-they die in Ah! you little know how this makes him dull, and heart-broken. My friends, pray that we may Pray that your carelessness may only make us Ah! if Christ is

more.

2. Christians should watch.

a

midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morningme, thrice welcome! Even so, come Lord Jesus. heed lest you be found in any course of sin. stians seem to walk, if I mistake not, in courses is hard to account for it; but so it seems to be. stians seem to be sleeping-in luxury-in co-in evil company. Ah! think how would you overtaken thus by the coming Saviour? Try occupations-your daily state of feeling-your ments-try them by this test: Am I doing as I to do on the day of his coming? less souls, how dreadful is your case! den-oh! how awfully sudden it sometimes is. ave no time for repentance-no breath to pray! g of the Saviour shall be more sudden still. Ye er the day nor the hour. You know not God = not obeyed the Gospel. Oh! what will ye do of the Lord's anger?

Death

SERMON XXXVI.

LOT'S WIFE.

e looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt."-GEN. xix. 26.

ot in the whole Bible a more instructive history of Lot and his family. His own history shows he righteous scarcely are saved. His sons-invell the way that the Gospel is received by the ess world. His wife is a type of those who are yet never converted-who flee from the wrath yet perish after all; whilst the angels' laying e lingering family, is a type of the gracious vio

lence and sovereign mercy which God uses in delivering souls.

At present I mean to direct your thoughts to the case of Lot's wife, and to show the following

Doctrine. Many souls who have been awakened to flee from wrath, look behind, and are lost.

I. Many flee, under terrors of natural conscience; but when these subside, they look back, and are lost.

So it was with Lot's wife. She was not like the men of

Sodom-intent upon the world and sin-quite unconcerned

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about their souls. She was not like her sons-in-law-she did not think her husband mocking-she was really alarmed, and really fled; and yet her terrors were like the morning cloud and the early dew, which quickly pass away. When the angels had brought them out of the gates of Sodom, they said: Escape for thy life, look not behind thee; neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed." And as long as these dreadful words were ringing in her ears, doubtless she fled with anxious footstep. The dreadful scene of the past nightthe darkness the anxiety of her husband-the pressing urgency of the noble angels-all conspired to awaken her natural conscience, and to make her flee. But now the hellish roar of the wicked Sodomites had ceased-the sun was already gilding the horizon, promising a glorious dawn -the plain of Jordan began to smile, well watered everywhere as the garden of the Lord. Her sons-in-law-her friends her house-her goods—her treasure-were still in Sodom; so her heart was there also. Her anxieties began to vanish with the darkness-she determined to take one look to see if it were really destroyed-she "looked back from behind him, and became a pillar of salt."

So is it with many among us. Many flee under terrors of natural conscience, but when these subside, they look back, and are lost.

Some people pass through the world without any terrors of conscience-without any awakening or anxiety about their souls. (1.) Some are like the men of Sodom, intent upon buying and selling-building and planting-marrying and giving in marriage. Or they are greedy upon their lusts, and they have no ears to hear the sounds of coming wrath. As a man working hard at the anvil hears no noise from without, because of the noise of his own hammer, so

these men hear nothing of coming vengeance, they are so busy with the work of their hands. (2.) Some are like the sons-in-law of Lot. Yon shrewd, intelligent man of business thinks that ministers do but jest. We seem to them as one that mocks. They are so accustomed to see behind the scenes in other professions, that they think there must be deceit with us too. And when they can point to an insincere, ungodly minister, then their triumph is complete. These shrewd men think that ministers put serious words into their mouths, as other men put on suits of solemn black at funerals, just to look well, and to agree with the occasion. They think that ministers put frightful things into sermons just to frighten weak people, and to make the crowd wonder. Now these shrewd men are seldom, if ever, visited with terrors of conscience. They slip easily through the world into an undone eternity. (3.) Some, again, slumber all their days under a worldly ministry. When God, in judgment, takes away the pure preaching of the Word, and sends a famine of the bread and water of life, their souls grow up quite hard and unawakened. They grow proud, and cannot bear to hear the preaching of Christ-they stop their ears and run-they hate-they detest it. These souls often pass through life without the least awakening, and never know, till they are in hell, that they are lost souls. (4.) But many worldly people have a season of anxiety about their soul. A dangerous illness, or some awful bereavement, or some threatening cloud of Providence, stirs them up to flee from the wrath to come. They are quite in earnest-they lay by their sins, and avoid their sinful companions, and apply diligently to the Bible, and attempt to pray, and seem to be really fleeing out of Sodom; but they dure only for a while their concern is like the morning cloud and the early dew-it quickly passes away. The sun of prosperity begins to rise their fears begin to vanish -they look behind, and are lost.

Are there none here who can look back on such a course as this? You remember when some providence awakened you to deepest seriousness—some sickness, or the approach of the pestilence, or some fearful dealing of God with your family, or the approach of a sacrament, made you anxiously flee out of Sodom. O how different you were from the gay, laughing, unconcerned world! You did not think ministers were mocking then. You read your Bible, and went down on your knees to pray very earnestly. But the storm blew

over-the sun began to rise-and everything around you began to smile. You began to think it hard to leave all your friends-your sins-your worldly enjoyments-and that perhaps the wrath of God would not come down. You looked back, and this day you are as hard and immovable as a pillar of salt. "Remember Lot's wife."

Learn two things:

1. That an awakening by mere natural conscience is very different from an awakening by the Spirit of God. No man ever fled to Christ from mere natural terror. "No man can come to me," saith Christ, "except the Father which hath sent me draw him." Seek a divine work upon your heart.

2. Learn how far you are from the kingdom of God. You are quite lost. You are unmoved and unaffected by all we can say. You do not weep-you do not beat upon the breast-you do not flee, though we can prove to you that you are lying under the wrath of the great God that made you. Yet you do not stir one step to flee. Oh! how like you are to the pillar of salt-how likely it is that you will never be saved.

II. Many flee when their friends are fleeing; but they look back, and are lost.

So it was with Lot's wife. Of all the things which helped to awaken that unfortunate woman, I doubt not the most powerful was the anxiety of her husband. If he had not been anxious, I doubt not she would have been as stupid and unconcerned as her neighbours around her. But when she looked upon the anxious countenance of her beloved lord-when she saw how serious and earnest he was in pleading with their sons-in-law, then she could not but share in his anxiety. She had partaken of all his trialsof all his prosperities and of all his troubles, and she would not leave him now. She clave unto him-she laid hold on the skirt of his garment, determined to be saved, or to perish with her husband. So much for the amiable and interesting affections of nature; but nature is not gracenatural affection carried her out of Sodom, but it did not carry her into Zoar; for she looked behind him, and became a pillar of salt.

Now, there is reason to think that this is true of some in this congregation-that they flee when their friends are fleeing, but look back, and are lost.