The moment is hastening upon us when this mighty angel, who manages the affairs of the kingdom of providence, shall swear concerning every unbelieving and impenitent sinner, that the time of offered mercy shall be no longer, the time of pardon and grace and reconciliation shall be no more: the sound of this mercy reaches not to the regions of the dead, those who die before they are reconciled, they die under the load of all their sins, and must perish for ever, without the least hope or glimpse of reconciling or forgiving grace.

3. At the term of this mortal life, "the time of prayer and repentance and service for God or man in this world shall be no longer." Eccl. ix. 10.-There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest, whither we are all hastening. Let every sinful creature therefore ask himself, Have I never yet begun to pray? Never begun to call upon the mercy of the God that made me; never begun to repent of all my crimes and follies? Nor begun in good earnest to do service for God, nor to honor him amongst men? Dreadful thought indeed! When it may be the next hour we may be put out of all capacity and opportunity to do it for ever! As soon as ever an impenitent sinner has the veil of death drawn over him, all his opportunities of this kind are for ever cut off: he that has never repented, never prayed, never bonored his God, shall never be able to pray nor repent, nor do any thing for God or his honor through all the ages of his future immortality: nor is there any promise made to returning or repenting sinners in the other world, whither we are hastening. "As the tree falls, when it is cut down, so it lies, and it must for ever lie, pointed to the north or to the south, to hell or heaven." Eccles. xi. 3.

And indeed there is no true prayer, nor sincere repentance can be exercised after this life: for the soul that has wasted away all its time given for

repentance and prayer, is, at the moment of death, left under everlasting hardness of heart: and whatsoever enmity against God and godliness was found in the heart in this world, is increased in the world to come, when all manner of softening means and mercies are ever at an end. This leads me to the next thought.

4. How wretched soever our state is at death, the day of hope is ended, and it returns no more.-Be our circumstances never so bad, yet we are not completely wretched while the time of hope remains. We are all by nature miserable because of sin, but it is only despair can perfect our misery. Therefore fallen angels are sealed up under misery, because there is no door of hope opened for them, But in this life there is hope for the worst of sinful men: there is the word of grace and hope calling them in the gospel; there is the voice of divine mercy sounding in the sanctuary, and blessed are they that hear the joyful sound: but if we turn the deaf ear to the voice of God and his Son, and to all the tender and compassionate entreaties of a dying Saviour, hope is hastening to its period: for this very angel will shortly swear, that this joyful sound shall be heard no longer.

He comes now to the door of our hearts, he sues there for admittance. "Open unto me, and receive me as your Saviour and your Lord; give me and my gospel free admission, and I will come in and bestow upon you the riches of my grace and all my salvation: open your hearts to me with the holy desires and humble submission of penitence, and receive the blessings of righteousness, and pardon, and eternal life." He now invites you to return to God with an acknowledgment and renunciation of every sin, and he offers to take you by the hand, and introduce you into his Father's presence with comfort: this is a day of hope for the vilest and most hateful criminals; but if

you continue to refuse, he will shortly swear in his wrath you shall never enter into his kingdom, you shall never taste of the provisions of his grace, you shall never be partakers of the blessings purchased with his blood, Heb. iii. 18. I swear in my wrath, saith the Lord, they shall not enter into my rest.

O the dreadful state of sinful creatures, who continue in such obstinacy, who waste away the means of grace and the seasons of hope, week after week, and month after month, till the day of grace and hope is for ever at an end with them! Hopeless creatures! Under the power and the plague of sin, under the wrath and curse of a God, under the eternal displeasure of Jesus, who was once the minister of his Father's love; and they must abide under all this wretchedness through a long eternity, and in the land of everlasting despair. But I forbear that theme at present, and proceed.

5. At the moment of our death, the time of our preparation for the hour of judgment, and for the insurance of heaven and happiness, shall be no longer.

Miserable creatures that are summoned to die thus unprepared: this life is the only time to prepare for dying, to get ready to stand before the Judge of the whole earth, and to secure our title to the heavenly blessedness. Let my heart inquire, "Have I ever seriously begun to prepare for a dying hour, and to appear before the Judge of all? Have I ever concerned myself, in good earnest, to secure an interest in the heavenly inheritance, when this earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved? Have I ever made interest for the favor of God, and a share of the inheritance of the saints by Jesus the great Mediator, while he afforded life and time?"

Death is daily and hourly hastening upon us; death is the king of terrors, and will fulfil all his name to every soul that is unprepared. It is a piece of wisdom then for every one of us, since we must die, to search and feel whether death has lost its

sting or not: whether it be taken away by the blood of Christ? Is this blood sprinkled on my conscience by the humble exercise of faith on a dying Saviour? Are the terrors of death removed, and am I prepared to meet it by the sanctifying influences of the blessed Spirit? Have I such an interest in the covenant of grace as takes away the sting of death, as turns the curse into a blessing, and changes the dark scenes of death into the commencement of a new and everlasting life? This is that preparation for dying for which our time of life was given us; and happy are those who are taught of God to make this use of it.

Judgment is making haste towards us! months and days of divine patience are flying swift away, and the last great day is just at hand; then we must give an account of "all that has been done in the body, whether it has been good or evil;" and what a dismal and distressing surprise will it be, to have the Judge come upon us in a blaze of glory and terror, while we have no good account to give at his demand! and yet this is the very end and design of all our time, which is lengthened out to us on this side the grave, and of all the advantages that we have enjoyed in this life, that we may be ready to render up our account with joy to the Judge of all the earth.

Heaven is not ours by birth and inheritance, as lands and houses on earth descend to us from our earthly parents. We, as well as they, are by nature unfit for heaven, and children of wrath ; but we may be born again, we may be born of God, and become heirs of the heavenly inheritance through Jesus Christ: we may be renewed into the temper and spirit of heaven; and this life is the only season that is given us for this important change: shall we let our days and years pass away, one after another, in long succession, and continue the children of wrath still? Are we contented to go on this

year as the last, without a title to heaven, without a divine temper, and without any preparation for the business or the blessedness of that happy world?

6. When this life comes to an end, "the time of all our earthly comforts and amusements shall be no more."-We shall have none of these sensible things around us, to employ or entertain our eyes or our ears, to gratify our appetites, to sooth our passions, or to support our spirits in distress. All the infinite variety of cares, labors, and joys which surround us here, shall be no more: life, with all the busy scenes and the pleasing satisfactions of it, dissolve and perish together; have a care then that you do not make any of them your chief hope, for they are but the things of time, they are all short and dying enjoyments.

Under the various calamities of this life, we find a variety of sensible reliefs, and our thoughts and souls are called away from their sorrows by present business, or diverted by present pleasures; but all these avocations and amusements will forsake us at once, when we drop this mortal tabernacle; we must enter alone into the world of spirits, and live without them there.

Whatsoever agonies or terrors, or huge distresses, we may meet with in that unknown region, we shall have none of these sensible enjoyments to soften and allay them, no drop of sweetness to mix with that bitter cup, no scenes of gaiety and merriment to relieve the gloom of that utter darkness, or to sooth the anguish of that eternal heart-ach. O take heed, my friends, that your souls do not live too much on any of the satisfactions of this life, that your affections be not set upon them in too high a degree, that you make them not your idols and your chief good, lest you be left helpless and miserable under everlasting disappointment, for they cannot follow you into the world of souls; they are the things of time, and they have no place in