There fhall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth: which denotes the workings of envy at the happiness of others, and rage against themselves for their wicked. folly, in not improving the advantages they were once favoured with.

3. If men be not fanctified before death, they never will be fanctified. The day of grace, or the time for difpenfing of grace, will then be at an end. There will be no getting the byl of grace, when the midnight cry is made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Matth. xxv. 8, 9. Though finners should then defire to be made holy, yet their defires will not be granted. The waters of life once ran before them, and they were invited to take thereof freely; but now the fountain of grace is fhut up, and to be opened no more at all. In the time of life, they refifted the holy Spirit in his strivings with them; and now he will no more strive with them. Offered grace they defpifed; and never more fhall the tenders of grace be made to them. They fhall remain graceless, unholy, filthy creatures, to all eternity; having upon them the image of Satan, that unclean fpirit, and enemy of all holiness.

4. If men do not make fure of falvation before death, they never will obtain falvation. Now is the day of falvation. 2 Cor. vi. 2. And if in this day men do not fecure falvation to themfelves, they will mifs of it for ever. When the night of death is come, the door of heaven is but against them that have not got a title to it; and though they cry to have it opened to them, all their cries will be in vain. Matth. XXV. II, 12. Afterward came alfo the foolish virgins, faying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But be answered and faid, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

None fhall be admitted into heaven, but fuch as have been made heirs of heaven, while here on earth. All others go to hell, and are: eternally fixed in that place of torments. Luk. xvi. 26. There is no poffibility of deliverance from that pit of destruction. When once in that doleful prifon, there

is no relief, nor efcape. Nothing can then be done by them, to procure a paffage from hell to heaven.

APPLICATION.

USE I. We may hence fee the preciousness of time. If we confider time in itfelf, in a phyfical fenfe, it is fcarce any thing. But confider time as it may be improved in doing the work of God, and fo it is exceeding precious. Tis a feafon, wherein we may do much for the glory of God, wherein we may obtain reconciliation to God, wherein we may efcape the damnation of hell, and fecure unto ourselves everlasting falvation. In thofe refpects, the time of life is of exceeding great worth. And accordingly we fhould fet an high price upon it, especially upon holy time. We fhould not

wafte it away in folly, and vanity, and finful pleafures; but employ it unto thofe holy and happy purposes, which it is capable of. This is our intereft, and our true wifdom. Eph. v. 15, 16. See then that ye walk circumfpectly, not as fools, but as wife, redeeming the time. We should embrace and improve every opportunity of doing and getting good; and fo, fhew ourselves to be fuch as understand our work, and know the worth of our fouls, and the precioufnefs of time.

USE 2. It calls upon us to be deeply bumbled, for that we have fo little employed our lives in doing the work of God. How flothful have we been in attending the main business, that we were fent into the world about! How indifferent have we been about feeking reconciliation.to. God, and fanctification from God! How have we neglected the great falvation, revealed and offered to us in the gospel! Oh, what caufe bave the best of us to be greatly abafed, for our vile undoing floth! And are there not fome of you, who have been standing idle all the day hitherto! This your way is your folly, and your reproach. Be- afhamed and bumbled herefor

USE

USE 3. How reprovable are thofe who have not been careful to do the work of God, but instead thereof the work of the Devil! Their lives have been spent in doing works of iniquity. They have walked and lived. in fome way of fin, or other, all their days. Their fellowship has been with the unfruitful works of darkness; fuch as uncleannefs, intemperance, and the like. O how worthy are fuch of reproof, and how concerned fhould fuch of you be, no longer to live in fuch ways of fin, but to turn from them unto God, left God be provoked to give you up finally to the lufts of your evil. hearts, and leave you to die without wisdom!

USE 4. Let us all be careful to do the work of the day, while the day of life lafts. For Motive hereto,

Mot. 1. Confider, the day of life is bort. The life of man confifts of but few days. Job xiv. 1. Life is now exceeding fhort, compared with what it was in the first ages of the world. It is now as a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanifbeth away. Jam iv. 14. Life runs away apace, and will quickly be at an end. And though the lives of fome are longer than of others, yet the longeft life is but fhort. Our working time will foon be over, and therefore we had need to improve it well, to get our work done before the night of death overtake us. The work we have to do, is great; and we have but a little time to do it in; and therefore we fhould lofe no time.

When

Mot. 2. Confider, the day of life is of uncertain continuance. At the longeft (as was faid) it is but fhort, and it may be shorter than we are aware of. we shall die, we know not. We may all fay as Ifaac did, Gen. xxvii. 2. I know not the day of my death. God has concealed the time of our dying from us. He has indeed fet the bounds of our life, how far it fhall extend, and no farther. But he has not revealed to us in what point of the line of time the period of our life is fixed. Though therefore it be certain to God, in what moment we fhall die, yet to us it is moft uncertain. We may promife ourselves many years, when yet it

may

may be, we have not one night more to live. (Luk. xii. 19, 20.) We had need therefore to improve our time of life in doing our work, left death unexpectedly and fuddenly furprise us. This is the ufe, which our Lord himself would have us to make of the uncertainty of the continuance of our lives. Mark. xiii. 35, 36. Watch ye therefore (for ye know not when the master of the boufe cometh; at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning) left coming fuddenly he find you fleeping.

Mot. 3. Confider, the day of life may be far pent already. It is certainly fo with many of us. The far greatest part of our life is paft and gone, and the shades of the evening are upon us. So, if we have neglected our work hitherto, we had need now to double our diligence, and husband well the remainder of our day. It is high time for us to shake off our floth, and to awake out of fleep; to forfake our finful courfes, to feek God in earnest, to repent and believe, and to fet about the performance of all duties. The day being far fpent, and the night at hand, we fhould work the harder, and Jabour to do much in a little time. This is the only way to recover our loft and mispent time.

Mot. 4. Confider, the day of life when gone, will return no more. When men die, they fhall not rife to live again the life which now is. Job. x. 21. Behold, I go whence 1 fball not return, to the land of darkness and the fhadow of death, There is no returning from the grave, unto the land of the living. After death, the eyes that have feen us, fhall fee us no more, and the place that has known us, hall know us no more. Job. xx. 9. We had need then to improve the prefent day of life in doing the work of God, because after this is over, fuch a day fhall be granted to us no more. If our work be undone at death, we fhall not live again to do it. Might our opportunities be restored to us, by coming into the world a fecond time, we might hope to repair our former neglects. But God will try us, and trust us with fuch advantages, no more. This is one thing which will add to the defpair of the damned.

They would

would be glad to return into this world, and be favoured with their paft enjoyments, that their fecond life might be better than their first. But their wish will be in vain. As men die but once, fo they fhall live in this world but once. We have but one life, to do our work in; and if that life be mifpent, we shall not enjoy another. Indeed, at the laft day, all men fhall be raised to life again; but that life will not be to be fpent in this world, as the former was,

Mot. 5. Confider, the day of life well improved, will have a blessed iJue.If we employ our life in working the work of God, the confequence of fuch a life, will be exceeding happy. For, in that cafe,

1. The night of death will be a fealon of sweet rest to us.....If our life be spent in holy labour, our death will be a fleep. Thus it is faid of David, Act. xiii. 36. For David, after he had ferved his own generation, according to the will of God, fell on fleep. The grave will be a bed of reft unto our bodies. Ifai. lvii. 2. The righteous fhall enter into peace, they shall reft in their beds. Unto the wicked and flothful, the grave will be a prifon, wherein their bodies are clafe-kept until the day of judgment. Death to them will indeed be the king of terrors, a meffenger of wrath. But to the diligent real chriftian, death will be a friend and a meffenger of mercy, that comes to lay them a fleep in Chrift. (1 Theff. iv. 14.) It comes, to give them reft from their labours. (Rev. xiv. 12.) Their Spirits go to Chrift, while their bodies reft in their graves until the refurrection. There the weary faint is at reft; waiting for the time when thefe vile bodies fhall be changed, and fafhioned like to Chrift's glorious body.

2. The refurrection-day will be a comfortable waking time.The bodies of men fhall not always lie dead in their graves, but shall be raised to life again. There fhall be a refurrection both of the juft and the unjust. (A&t. xxiv. 15.) Unto the ungodly, that will be a dreadful day. They fhall then awake to fhame and everlasting contempt. (Dan. xii. 2.) Their refurrection fhall be in

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