filed thereby, and unfit to meet his returning Lord : He is daily loosening his heart from all sensual attachments, and weaning himself from the world and creatures, because he knows he must quickly take his long farewel, and part with them all, at the call and appointment of his great Master. He is like a centinel upon his watch-tower, ever awake, because dangers stand thick around him.

4. There is a sleep of sloth and inactivity,' Prov. xix. 15. Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep." "A little more sleep, a little more slumber,' saith the lazy Christian, who turns upon his bed, as the door upon its hinges,' and makes no progress or advance in his way to heaven. We are sleepy Christians when we do little for God, or our own souls, in comparison of the vast work, and important varieties of duty that lie upon us: When our zeal is cold, and our efforts of service slight and feeble: When the light of grace shines so dim, and the spark of holiness is so covered with ashes, that it is hard to say, whether it . burn or no. As in natural things, so in spiritual, it is a difficult matter sometimes to distinguish between a dead man, and a lethargic sleeper.

Watchfulness in opposition to this slumber, is a lively and vigorous exercise of every grace, and a diligent attendance on every duty, both toward God and man, a constant converse with heaven by daily devotion, an active zeal for God in the world, a steady faith in the promises, a joyful hope of heavenly blessedness, a longing expectation of the returning Saviour, which makes the soul stretch out the wings of

desire and joy, as though it were going forth to meet him. This is the meaning of the Apostle Peter's expression, 2 Pet. iii. 12. "Looking for, and hastening to the coming of the day of God."

Put all these things together now, and they make up the character of a watchful Christian :' He is awake from the sleep of death, and made spiritually alive; he hath the work of vital religion begun in his heart.

He is awake from the sleep of thoughtlessness and indolence; he is solicitous to know his own state, and hath good hope through grace; he lives in the view of heavenly things, and keeps his eye open to future and eternal glories.

He is awake from the sleep of security, he is upon his guard against every danger, and ready to receive every alarm.

He is awake from the sleep of slothfulness, and is active in the pursuit of the glory of his God, and his own eternal interest, and still 'pressing toward the mark to obtain the prize.' This is the soul that is ready to meet a returning Saviour, and to receive his Lord when he comes, either at the hour of death, or to the general judgment.

Thirdly, Let me propose some special considerations which discover the blessedness of the watch. ful Christian at the hour of death.

1. Consid. That moment dispossesses us of every enjoyment of flesh and blood, and divides us from the commerce of this visible world; but the wakeful Christian is happy, for he is ready to be thus divided

and dispossessed.' Death breaks the band at once between us, and all the sensible things round about us, by dissolving the frame of this body, which had united us to them; and the watchful saint is content to have that bond broken, these unions dissolved. His heart and soul are not torn away, from the dear delights of this mortal state with that pain, anguish and horror, that attends the sinner when death summons him off the stage, and divides him from his fleshly idols. The Christian hath been untying his heart by degrees from the dearest delights of sense, and disengaging it from all that is not immortal: With holy pleasure he can bid farewel to sun, moon, and stars, and to all things which their light can shew him, for he is going to a world where the Sun of righteousness ever shines in unclouded glory, and discovers such sights, as are infinitely superior to all that the eyes of flesh can behold; he can part with friends and kindred with a composed spirit, for he is going to meet better friends and diviner kindred, as we shall shew immediately: He can leave his dying flesh behind him, and commit it to the dust, in joyful hope of the great rising-day, and he hath a better mansion at present provided for him on high in his Father's house, while he lives far separate from all earthly dwellings, 2 Cor. v. 1. "We know that if this earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God not made with hands eternal in the heavens."

2. Consid. The moment of death finishes our state of trial, and fixes us unchangeably in the state of sin

or holiness, in which we are then found; and 'blessed is the watchful Christian, for he is prepared to have his trial thus ended, and his state thus fixed and made unchangeable.' "As the tree falls, so it lies." Eccles. xi. 10. "whether to the north, or the south :" As the soul parts from the body, so it remains, whe ther fitted for heaven or hell. It is therefore a matter of the last importance to be prepared and ready for such an eternal sentence, and unchangeable determination. Were any of us to be surprised some moment this day, and forced to continue all our lives, in that very posture of body, in which we are then found, should we not be awake, and keep ourselves in the most natural and easy gestures all that day, lest we be seized at once, and fixed in some distorted, painful, and uneasy situation, all our months and years to come? Or if we were to be bound down to one single thought, or passion, all the remnant of our life, in which we were found in any uncertain minute in this hour, should we not watch with utmost care, and guard against every unpleasing thought, and every fretful and vexing passion, lest it should be fixed upon us till we die?

Now this is the case at death: The Almighty voice of God then pronounces, "he that is unclean and unholy must for ever be unholy and unclean, but he that is righteous let him be righteous still, and he that is holy shall be for ever holy." Rev. xxii. 11. I will not precisely determine that this is the sense of that text, yet since the Apostle speaks there concerning the coming of Christ, it may be very appli

cable to the present case. Now, how dreadful soever this thought is to a guilty sinful creature, it is no terror to a wakeful Christian: He is ready to have these words pronounced from heaven, for they will establish him in eternal holiness and eternal peace: He hath endeavoured to secure to himself an interest in the love of God, through the faith and love of Jesus the blessed Mediator, and at death he is fixed for ever in their love. He hath loved God in time, and in this visible world, and there is nothing in all the unseen worlds, nothing through all the ages of eternity, shall ever separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus. The moment of death hath fixed him for ever a holy and beloved soul, beyond the power of creatures to change his temper, or his state. This is the blessedness of the watchful Christian.

3. Consid. Death sets us in a more immediate and sensible manner in the presence of God, a glorious and holy God, God the Judge of all; and blessed is the watchful Christian, for he is willing to stand before this God, to be brought into his presence :' This is what he hath longed and prayed for, to be for ever with God. It is the blessedness that he hath sought with incessant labours and tears, with holy diligence, and daily devotion, and blessed is the "pure in heart," who hath watched against the pollutions of the world, "for he shall see God," Matth. v. 8. *

It is certain, that when the soul departs from the body, "it returns to God who gave it," Eccles. xii.

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