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and punish the Jewish nation, to destroy their city, and put an end to their church and state, for their many heinous iniquities, and the most provoking crime of rejecting and crucifying the Son of God. But these words, in their supreme and most important sense, always point to the glorious appearance of Christ at the last day,' when he shall come to shut up all the scenes of this frail life, to put an end to the present world, to finish all the works of this mortal state, and to decide and determine the eternal states of all mankind by the general judgment.

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Yet Christ comes' to each of us in the hour of death' also, for he hath the keys of death and of hell,' or of the invisible world, Rev. i. 18. It is he who appoints the very moment when the soul shall be dismissed from this flesh, he opens the doors of the grave for the dying body; and he is Lord of the world of spirits, and lets in new inhabitants every minute into those unseen regions of immortal sor. row, or immortal peace.

And as Christ may be said to come to us? by the message or summons of death,' so the many solemn writings and commands of watchfulness, which attend these parables of Christ, have been usually, and with good reason, applied to the hour of death' also, for then the Lord comes to shut up the scene of' each of our lives, our works are then finished,' our 'last day is come,' and the world is then at an end' with

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Let it be observed also, that there is a further rallel between the day of the general judgment,' and

that of our own death:' The one will as certainly come as the other, but the time when Christ will come in either of these senses, is unknown to us and. uncertain: And it is this, which renders the duty of perpetual watchfulness so necessary to all men. The parable assures us, that our Lord will certainly come, but whether at the second or third watch,' whether at 'midnight, or at cock-crowing, or near the morning,' this is all uncertainty; yet whensoever he comes, he expects we should have our loins girded,' like servants fit for business, and our lamps burning,' to attend him at the door, and that we be ready to receive him as soon as he knocks.'

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Were the appointed hour of judgment, or of death, made known to us for months or years before-hand, we should be ready to think constant watchfulness, a very needless thing. Mankind would persuade themselves to indulge their foolish and sinful slumbers, and only take care to rub their eyes a little, and bestir themselves an hour or two before this awful event: But it is the suddenness and uncertainty of the coming of Christ to all mankind, for either of these purposes, that extends the charge of watchfulness to all men as well as to the Apostles, Mark xiii. 37. and that calls upon us aloud to keep our souls ever awake, 'lest (as our Lord there expresses it,) coming suddenly he should find us sleeping.' And remember this, that if we are unprepared to meet the Lord at death, we can never be ready when he comes to judgment; peace and blessedness attend the watchful Christian, whensoever his Lord cometh. "Bless

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ed is that servant, whom, when his Lord comes, he shall find watching." This leads me to the second general head.

Secondly, What is implied in watchfulness?

Answ. In general, it is opposed to sleeping, as I have already hinted, in Mark xiii. 35, 36. And in the language of Scripture, as well as in common speech, sleep and slumbering, denote an unpreparedness to receive whatever comes, for this is the case with those who are asleep: On the other hand, watchfulness is a preparation and readiness for every event, and so it is expressed in some of these parables, ver. 40. "Be ye therefore ready." But to enter into a few particulars.

1. There is a "sleep of death," Psal. xiii. 3. Spiritual death as well as natural, is sometimes called a sleep. Such is the case of a soul "dead in trespasses and sins," Eph. v. 14. compared with ii. 1. "Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

Watchfulness therefore implies life, a principle of spiritual life in the soul: Surely those who are dead in sins are not prepared to receive their Lord: He is a perfect stranger to them, they know him not, they love him not, they obey him not; and a terrible stranger he will be, if he comes upon them before they are awake. But those who are awakened by divine grace into a spiritual life, have seen something of" the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," they are acquainted with their Lord, they love him, and have some degree of preparation to meet their

Saviour when he summons them to leave this world. This is therefore a matter of highest consequence, that we awake from a state of sin and death, that we be made alive to God, begin the Christian life, and set upon religion in good earnest, according to the rules of the gospel, before Christ call us away. is only this divine life begun in us, that can secure us from eternal death; though even Christians may be found slumbering in other respects, and expose themselves to painful evils, if that hour surprise them

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2. There is a sleep of indolence and thoughtlessness: When a man is insensible of his own circumstances, and too careless of the things which most concern him, we say, the man is asleep. Such a sleep seems to be upon the church of Israel, Isa. xxix. 10. "a spirit of deep sleep," when the law which contained the great things of God, and their salvation, was to them as a sealed book,' they read it not, their eyes were closed, their spiritual senses were bound up. Many a Christian who hath been raised from a death in sin, has been seized with this criminal slumber, and has had the image of death come again upon him: He has grown too careless and unconcerned about his most important and eternal affairs; and in this temper he hardly knows what his state is toward God, nor keeps up a lively sense or notice of divine and eternal things upon his spirit.

Watchfulness in opposition to this sleep, implies a holy solicitude and diligence, to know our own spiritual state; a consciousness of what we are; a keep

ing all the spiritual senses in proper exercise, and maintaining a lively perception of divine things. It implies an acute, painful sense of indwelling sin, and the irregular propensities of the heart, a delightful relish of heavenly objects, frequent thoughts of death and eternity, constant waiting for those awful events, with a quick apprehension and resentment of all things, that help or hinder the spiritual life. This is the character of a wakeful Christian, and such an one as is ready to receive his returning Lord.

3. There is a 'sleep of security and foolish peace,' when a person is not apprehensive of imminent danger, and is much unguarded against it. Such was the sleep of Jonah in the storm, of Sampson on the lap of Delilah, when the Philistines were upon him, and of the disciples when Judas and the band of soldiers were just ready to seize their Master. This is the case of many a slumbering Christian; he is not upon his guard against his inward lusts and passions, nor against those outward temptations and perils to which he is continually exposed, while he dwells in flesh and blood.

Watchfulness in this respect is, when a Christian hath his eyes open, and turns them round on every side to foresee approaching evil, and prevent it; when he is prepared for every assault of every adversary, whether sin or the world, whether death or the devil; he hath his spiritual armour girt upon him, and is ready for the combat. He is every hour guarded against the powers of the flesh, and watching against its allurements and attractions, lest he be de

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