such sudden and awful strokes of Providence have a happy tendency to wean them from creatures, and keep them awake to God, that when their Lord comes he may find them watching,' and pronounce upon them everlasting blessedness.

3. Remark. No person can be exempted from this duty of watchfulness, till he is Lord of his own life, and can appoint the time of his own dying.' Then indeed you might have some colour for your carnal indulgences, some pretence for sleeping, if you were sovereign of death and the grave, and had the keys in your own hand.

And truly such as venture to sleep in sin, do in effect say, 'we are Lords of our own life:' They act and manage as if their times were in their own hands, and not in the hand of their Maker: But the watchful Christian lives upon that principle, which David professes, Psal. xxxi. 15. "my times are in thine hand," O Lord; and they never give rest to themselves till they can rejoice with him, and say to the Lord, "thou art my God, into thy hands I commit my spirit, for thou hast redeemed it, and I leave it to thy appointment when thou wilt dislodge me from this body of flesh and blood, and call me into thy more immediate presence." If we could but resist the messenger of death, when the Lord of hosts has sent it, if we could shut the mouth of the grave when the Son of God has opened it for us, with the key that is entrusted in his hand, we might say then to our souls, 'sleep on upon your bed of ease, and take your rest:' But woe be to those, who will venture

to sleep in an unholy and unpardoned state, or even allow themselves the indulgence of short and sinful slumbers, when they cannot resist death one moment, when they cannot delay the summons of heaven, when they cannot defer their appearance before that Judge, whose sentence is eternal pleasure, or everlasting pain.

Our holy watch must not be intermitted one moment, for every following moment is a grand uncertainty. There is no minute of life, no point of time, wherein I can say I shall not die,' and therefore I should not dare to say, 'this minute I will take a short slumber.' What if my Lord should summon me while he finds me sleeping? His command cannot be disobeyed, the very call and sound of it divides me from flesh and blood, and all that is mortal, and sends me at once into the eternal world, for it is an almighty voice.

4. Remark. As it is a foolish and dangerous thing, for any of the sons and daughters of men to presume upon long life, and neglect their watch, so 'persons under some peculiar circumstances, are eminently called to be ever wakeful.' Give me leave here to reckon up some of them, and make a particular address to the persons concerned.

(1.) 'Is your constitution of body weak and feeble?' You carry then a perpetual warning about you never to indulge sinful drowsiness. Every languor of nature assures you that it is sinking to the dust: Every pain you feel, should put you in mind, that the pains of death are ready to seize you: You are tottering

upon the very borders of the grave, and will you venture to drop in before your hopes of life and immortality are secured, and a joyful resurrection? You pass perhaps many nights, wherein the infirmities of your flesh will not suffer you to sleep, and to take that common refreshment of nature, and shall not these same infirmities keep you awake to things spiritual, and rouse all your thoughts and cares about your immortal interests?

(2.) You whose circumstances or employments of life, expose you to perpetual dangers either by land or by sea;' you who carry your lives as it were in your hand, and are often in a day within a few inches of death; is it not necessary for you to inquire daily, Am I prepared for a departure hence ? Am I ready to hear the summons of my Lord, and ready to give up my account before him? Shall I dare go on another day with my sins unpardoned, with my soul unsanctified, and in immediate danger of eternal misery? A fall from a horse, or a house-top, may send you down to the pit whence there is no redemption; every wind that blows, and every rising wave, may convey you into the eternal world, and are you ready to meet the great God in such a surprise, and without warning?

(3.) You who are young and vigorous, and flourish amidst all the gaieties and allurements of life,' you are in most danger of being lulled asleep in sin, and therefore I addressed you lately in a funeral discourse, when the present providence gave each of

you a new and loud call to awake, and I pray God you may hear his voice in it.

(4.) Perhaps others of you are arrived at old age, and the course of nature forbids you to expect a long continuance in the land of the living: Are any of my hearers ancient sinners and asleep still? Venturous and thoughtless creatures! That have grown old in slumber, and worn out their whole life in iniquities! Surely it is time for you to hear the voice of the Son of God in the gospel, and accept of his salvation: Behold the Judge is at the door, he comes speedily, and he will not tarry, his herald of death is just at hand: Are you willing he should seize you in a deadly sleep, and send you into eternal sorrows?

And let aged Christians bestir themselves, and awake from their slothful and secure frames of spirit, let them look upward to the crown that is not far off, to the prize that is almost within reach: 'Whatsoever your hand' or heart' find to do' for God, 'do it with all your' zeal and might: Let your loins be girt' about, and your natural powers active in his service, 'let your lamp' of profession be bright and burning, that when Jesus comes, ye may receive him with joy.

(5.) And are there any of you that are under decays of grace and piety,' that are labouring and wrestling with strong corruptions,' or in actual conflict with repeated temptations which too often prevail over you, it becomes you to hear the watchword which Christ often gives to his churches under such circumstances: Make haste and awake unto

holiness, 'be watchful and strengthen the things that remain that are ready to die; hold fast what thou hast received; remember thy first affection and zeal, and repent' and mourn for what thou hast lost, 'lest I come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know the hour: Remember whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works, for thou hast lost thy first love:' Have a care of dangerous luke-warmness, and indifference in the things of religion. This is the very temper of a sleepy declining Christian, while he dreams he is rich and has great attainments: Take heed, lest presuming upon thy riches and thy self-sufficiency, thou shouldest be found wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' Keep your souls awake hourly, and be upon your guard against every adversary, and every defilement, lest ye be seized away in the commission of some sin, or in the compliance with some foul temptation. The drowsy soldier is liable to be led captive, and to die in fetters, and groan heavily in death. But blessed is the watchful' Christian; he shall be found amongst the overcomers, and shall partake of the rich variety of divine favours, which are contained in the epistles to the seven churches. Rev. ii. and iii.

Though the greatest part of a former discourse, has been describing the blessedness of a watchful Christian at the hour of death, and in this I have set before you the sad consequences that attend sleepers, (both which are powerful preservatives against drowsiness) yet at the conclusion of this sermon, give me leave to add a few more motives to the duty of watch