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desiring that they might be safe in the great day of the Lord. A very slight examination will convince every reflecting person that neither the state of his heart, nor the course of his conduct, has been such as to deserve His approbation in whose sight the heavens themselves are not clean; and that he has in innumerable instances deviated from the just and holy law of God, and has thus become liable to the peInalties of disobedience. He will be humbled, therefore, on account of his past sins, and alarmed for their consequences. He will see the necessity of a change of heart, the necessity of that godly sorrow for sin which worketh repentance unto salvation. His inquiry will be, What must I do to be saved? And he will gladly embrace any method, however painful and humbling, by which salvation may be obtained. Things now appear to him in a new light. Perhaps his great concern in time past was, What shall I eat, or what shall I drink, or wherewithal shall I be clothed; or perhaps, How shall I most effectually make provision for the flesh to fulfil its lusts? His main concern now is, how he may escape from the wrath to come and lay hold on eternal life. Thus brought to a sense of his guilt and misery, he sees at once the necessity of such a Saviour as Jesus Christ to deliver him, not from the punishment merely, but from the love and power of sin. Into his hands he willingly commits his soul, in a firm persuasion, that he is able and will ing to keep that which he has committed unto him until that day. On him, as the Lamb of God, slain to take away the sins of the world, he cheerfully rests his entire hope of salvation; to his instructions and government, as the great Prophet and King of his church, he resolves, through Divine grace, unreservedly and universally to submit; His example he determines steadily to follow; and yet, when he has done all, he regards himself as an unpre

fitable servant, and looks for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, as the free and unmerited gift of God in and through him. In short, before we can be ready for Christ's coming, there must be a conviction of our undone condition, a solicitude about the way of salvation, a persuasion of the suitableness and sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour, a deliberate acceptance of his salvation in the way he proposes it to us, and a full purpose of renouncing whatever is inconsistent with it. If we be not convinced of our sinful and ruined state by nature; if we have not heartily repented of those sins which were the cause of Christ's first coming; if, in dependence on his grace and Holy Spirit, we be not willing to part with every sin for his sake, and to devote ourselves to his service, we are not yet meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. No pretensions to correctness of moral conduct, however specious; no acts of benevolence, however useful; no degree of worldly reputation, however distinguished, will be of any avail in the day of judgment, except as they are the fruits and evidence of our faith and love which are in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3. The being ready for the coming of Christ implies that we keep this event habitually in view ;-that we are in the habit of measuring our actions by the test of that great and terrible day of the Lord, often asking ourselves what we shall think of them when we stand at his bar stripped of every disguise;-that we set the Lord always before us as acting under his eye, making his glory our end, and his word our sole rule in all we do;-and that by that standard we frequently examine and ascertain the actual state of our souls. And were all who are called Christians thus prepared for the coming of Christ, what an improvement would it pro duce in their temper and conduct! How cautious would it make them

in word and deed; how temperate in all things; how just in their dealings; how fervent in their devotions; how zealous for God; how careful to redeem their time; how dead to the world and its enjoyments! In a word, how becoming the Gospel would their conversation then be! Men would no longer live as without God in the world; but they would be habitually and effectually engaged in denying all ungodliness and every worldly lust, and living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, and thus be prepared for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In these particulars, then, does readiness for the coming of Christ consist. Let us apply them to ourselves, in order to ascertain whether we be ready. Have we seriously examined into our state with respect to eternity? Are we convinced of its importance, and of our unfitness to partake of its happiness? Has this shown us our need of Jesus as our Saviour, and of the Holy Spirit as our Sanctifier, and made us willing humbly to receive the salvation of Jesus Christ in his own way and on his own terms?

Do we frequently review our actions, weighing them in the balance of eternity; and are we enabled, on such a review, to rejoice in our growing conformity to the word of God? Do we earnestly and constantly apply to the blood of sprinkling, for the pardon of our numerous sins and imperfections; and to the Holy Spirit, for grace to preserve and sanctify us? And are all our hopes built on Jesus Christ, the only foundation on which they can safely rest? If this be the case, then are we ready for the coming of our Lord. If not, then are we still in the bond of iniquity, and we have just cause to look forward with terror to His approach who will render to every man according to his works.

II. I now proceed to illustrate the motives by which the exhortation in the text is enforced: "For CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 184.

in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh."

1. These words imply that the Son of Man will certainly come. This, indeed, is plainly and expressly asserted in many passages of Scripture. "God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained." At that great day the Judge will come in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not his Gospel, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from his presence; but, at the same time, to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe. We may refuse to prepare for his coming, but we can neither prevent nor delay it. The event is unchangeably fixed. And what an event will this be! What a view will it give of the characters of men! How will the fair professor, whose hypocritical pretences have deceived the most discerning, be stripped of every disguise! How will those who have set God and his laws at defiance call on the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and cover them from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb! Happy then will those be, who are interested in the salvation of Jesus, however undervalued they may have been on earth. Let us acquaint ourselves with Him, that we may be at peace; and that good may come to us, and not evil, in that great and terrible day of the Lord.

2. The text further implies, that the coming of Christ will be unexpected. And of this also we are expressly assured in various other passages of Scripture. As in the days before the flood, all men, the good and the bad, were pursuing their ordinary employments, and knew not till the flood came and swept them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be; so shall it be to all. There will be no particular alarm, no extraor2 G

dinary change, to indicate his coming, until the voice of the archangel and the trump of God shall summon them to judgment. There will be no means even of forming any probable conjecture as to the time when this will happen; in order, doubtless, that we may be kept in a watching posture. Let us then take care that we learn from the uncertainty of the event this important lesson.

And the observation is equally true with regard to death, the harbinger of judgment. The time of death is kept out of the sight of all. Few are aware of it till very near, and many are taken away without the least warning. And though the thoughts of death are habitually present with the good man; yet even to him the time may be, and usually is, unexpected. How much, then, does it concern us to be always ready, for at such an hour as we think not, the Son of Man may come by judgment, at least by death, and thus place us in the same circumstances in which we shall be found at his actual coming in the last day!

3. The words of the text imply not only that the coming of Christ will be unexpected, but that we may be surprised by it in an unprepared state. This is a surprise, to which the ungodly are peculiarly liable. A consciousness that they are not ready, joined to an unwillingness to prepare, makes them reluctant to think about dying. The same circumstances would as effectually blind them to any signs of the coming of Christ to judgment, were they to be found alive at his coming. Those, therefore, who are not habitually ready, will probably be found unprepared when the Son of Man cometh, or sends death to summon them before him. He may come soon and suddenly; but, even if he should delay long the time of his coming, the things which tempt men to omit preparing to-day will continue to tempt them to-morrow, and

probably with increased power. Whatsoever, therefore, thy hands find to do, do it immediately with all thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest, and on the brink of which thou art standing: for consider how dreadful will be the consequences of being thus surprised. Our Lord himself describes them a few verses after the text: "If that wicked servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming;""the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour that he is not aware; and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him bis portion with the hypocrite; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." With what propriety then does our Lord again and again exhort us to be ready! May we attend to his exhortation, and be suitably influenced by the awful motive by which he enforces it! Let us take the advice he has so kindly given us, and be always on the watch, lest, coming suddenly, our Lord find us sleeping. Let us not say in our hearts, To-morrow I will examine into the state of my soul; to-morrow I will begin to prepare for eternity and for the coming of Christ to judgment. Alas! we know not what a day may bring forth. This night our souls may be required of us: then, what will become of our purposes for tomorrow? To-day we enjoy the means of grace: to-morrow they may be for ever hid from our eyes. To-day we are in time: tomorrow we may be in eternity, and in unchangeable misery. Today, therefore, while it is called today, let us not harden our hearts, but flee from the wrath to come, and lay hold on eternal life, lest in such an hour as we think not, the Son of Man should come.

Let me, in conclusion, press this subject on the serious and immediate attention of all who are careless and unprepared.

Let me

press it upon them by all the regard they have to their present and final happiness. Your Saviour has, in mercy, warned you to be ready; and be well knew what he said. He well knew whether his coming be so certain and sudden, and in its consequences so dreadful to the impenitent as he has said. And if he do not, in mercy, convince you of it before, that great and terrible day will flash conviction upon your minds with an evidence which it will be impossible for you to resist. And are you resolved to make this dreadful experiment, and at the peril of your souls to try whether these things are true? This were indeed madness and folly, especially as even now your conscience pleads against it. Could you bear the thought of giving up all hope of heaven? Could you deliberately renounce all dependence on Christ, and challenge God to do his worst? and if you could not do this, why should you venture on his displeasure, by sinning against him, and presumptuously continue impenitent after all his invitations and warnings? Is it the hope of a long life, and a distant opportunity of repentance, which emboldens you thus to act? Alas! what is that life on which you build such hopes? Is it not a vapour that appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away? You are now, it may be, young and in health; but how soon may the Son of Man come, in a fever or a palsy, as effectually as in the judgment day, and as suddenly too? Know you not that in the midst of life you are in death; and that as death leaves you, so will judgment find you? In love, then, to your souls, make no more delays. What is become of thousands who trifled with their convictions, and made light of the calls of the Gospel, in hope of a more convenient season? Alas! those calls and convictions are now aggravating their condemnation, and ministering fuel to the fire that never shall be quenched. And

what will become of us if we act the same inconsiderate part? If the word of God be true, we also shall come into the same place of torment. Let us be persuaded, then, as we value our souls, to give all diligence to prepare for the coming of Christ. Let us flee, as for our lives, to the city of refuge which God hath appointed, lest the avenger of his broken law overtake us, and we perish for

ever.

Nor would I confine my exhortation to the careless. Let us all watch and be ready. Let us keep in the fear of the Lord and the view of eternity all the day long; and, by frequent self-examination, have the great account between God and our souls in readiness. Let us daily apply to him who is mighty to save, for grace to help us, and for mercy to pardon us, through the blood of Christ. Then shall we have no need to start at the approach of death or judgment: we may view the king of terrors without dismay; nay, we may lift up our heads with joy amidst all the horrors of a consuming world: Jesus will be our friend; and his favour will secure, from all the perils of that great day, those who have persevered to the end in his service. Let us not, therefore, be of those who draw back to perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Let us pray, and watch, and labour, that we may always be ready to welcome our Saviour's approach. In that case, when a few more months or years, perhaps a few more days or hours, shall have passed, he that shall come will come, and his reward shall be with him. God grant that we may all be found of him in peace, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Amen.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I VENTURE to send you the following questions, and shall be well satisfied if they should produce

such answers as will place a subject deeply interesting to Christians in general, in a somewhat clearer light than it has hitherto stood.

I. Do not the present extraordinary circumstances of our country call for extraordinary exertions and duties on the part of Christians? If so,

II. What are the peculiar exertions and duties thus required, for instance, of the minister in his station; of the person of literary talents in bis sphere; of private Christians in theirs? &c. &c.

To me, I confess, it appears, that the extraordinary activity of the sons of sedition and disloyalty, should shame those Christians, who

look on the present state of distress with little more than passive indifference, and be a more urgent call on those already active.

Affliction is the golden opportunity for sowing the good seed of religion. "O Lord, when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness," is the language of the prophet; and it certainly becomes all classes, as far as they have opportunity, to make the practical experiment of its truth. I should not have sent these lines, but with the hope of obtaining from some of your readers, a plain, serious answer. I am, &c.

J. W.

MISCELLANEOUS.

moments, he breathed out the tenTo the Editor of the Christian Observer. der love he bore to his parents; THE fever peculiar to tropical and expressed his sure and firm climates, has been for some time faith of a glorious resurrection, epidemic in the island of Barba- through the atonement and rightdoes; and has produced great eousness of a crucified Saviour. mortality, particularly among the About a year and a half before 2d, or Queen's regiment of foot. this, he first became acquainted I have seen accounts of its ravages with the truth as it is in Christ in that corps, which embarked at Jesus: and from that period, to Plymouth, only in May last, 800 the day of his death, he daily evistrong, from which it would ap- denced the most satisfactory proofs pear, that the number of deaths of Divine teaching, and progressive had been very great. It is certain, grace. His last words were; (adthat nine officers had been cut off dressing a brother officer, who combefore Dec. 30, 1816; since which municated the account ;) "Gordon, I have no information. Among my body is weary and weak, but these I have heard the names of there is rest awaiting me when it two officers, and have been inform- is over." His friend then said, ed of some circumstances respect"Christ has said, I will never leave ing their death, which it may be thee nor forsake thee." He replied, useful to publish. One of them, "He hath never yet forsaken me, Lieut. William Gray, was aged and I am sure he will not now." only 25 years. He was seized with There was a smile at that time on symptoms of fever on the evening his features which almost lighted of the 6th, and died on the evening up his countenance; and the very of the 8th of November, having last sounds that could be heard been previously in perfect health. from him were" The blood of He was aware of his danger from Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.” the very first, but never once He had talked of the delightful shrunk from death. In his last conversations which he and his

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