SERMON XIV.

ON DEATH.

1 THESSALONIANS V. 2.

"The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night."

It does not require a very extraordinary degree of observation, to perceive that all things here below are subject to decay. If we cast our eye on any monument of antiquity, the record perhaps of some great and glorious achievement, or of some remarkable event in history, we find it, though still remaining, yet gradually mouldering to decay; and which a few more revolving years may probably complete, and thus mingle the once noble edifice with that dust, on which it has so long stood, in proud and boasted pre-eminence, above the less attractive objects, by which it was surrounded.

If, indeed, we regard the still more beauteous and wonderful productions of nature, the awful truth will be yet further established.

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The lofty and magnificent oak, together with other splendid ornaments of the forest, stand fast and flourish, 'tis true, for many a century; but the hour at last arrives, when, like the artificial productions of man, they yield to the common but mighty hand of time. Again, the nurtured plant of the garden, and the wild flower of the field, whose gorgeous appearance has formed so pleasing an object of attraction to the admiring eye, enjoy a yet shorter reign; and though nought that man can fashion could excel, or even equal, them in the brilliancy of their colour, the loveliness of their form, and the minuteness of their texture; though "Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of them;" yet, perfect as they seem to be, many of them flourish but for a few hours only, and then droop and fade and die.

And when we dwell, with a kind of melancholy reflection, on this general decay of all earthly objects, however vast, however beautiful; whether they be the ingenious and laborious work of man, or the still more magnificent productions of nature, and are brought to see that all these must one day have an end;—with how much more serious and solemn feeling must we contemplate

the undeniable fact, that we ourselves are subject to dissolution. To this momentous and awful truth none of us can be blind; but we are all compelled, in humbled insignificance, to bow and submit to it. We are brought to acknowledge from our own experience how certainly, though gradually perhaps, we are advancing towards decay; and are too well assured, by witnessing the fall of those around us, that before long we shall, in the common course of nature, be a mere mass of corruption,-food for worms,—dust and ashes.

But, as though such sad experience were not enough to warn us of our own perishable condition, God has vouchsafed by his unerring word, to make known to, and to admonish us of, the solemn fact. In various parts of the Bible, both in the Old and New Testament, the shortness and uncertainty of human life is not only alluded to, but particularly described. What saith Job? "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble; he cometh forth like a flower and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not 1." The Psalmist makes use of

1 Job xiv. 1, 2.

pas. is 1 fver off de feld, so he Fr me voi asset over it, and

Is gone, ma me pars merecť stall know it And me peste Put bears testi

I.

e sme vi in the words of De T - The buy of the Lori so cometh as a med” a the main us! the true indeed speaks zemede Ivery hour. 7, every moment of AT LESENCE, va re able to be taken hence. Ve manet ml mens er own The present moment may in as in the enjoyment of De mest perfect leith, vile the next may sumbed us to the presence of our God

Since ve last assembled in this place of worship, zee of ser jedov-rentes has been suddenly watched ivi fem among us. Death crossed ber path and seized on her at a moment, when bootless etter herself nor friends expected that God would so awfully visit her. Surely, my brethren, this, and the like events, which have recently occurred in this parish, ought to have a serious effect on us. Surely

* Preached on the occasion of the sudden death of a parishioner.

they ought to impress on us the importance of "thinking on our latter end!" They are intended, indeed, by a wise and merciful Providence, as warnings to us who survive. Let us not then suffer them, (as we are too apt with many things of spiritual importance,) to make but faint impression on our minds; let us not merely think of them for the moment, and then bid adieu to them as unworthy of our serious contemplation; but let us ponder them deeply in our hearts, and strive to profit by them to our eternal welfare.

O, what great reason then have we all to "watch" and be “ready;" for "the Son of man cometh in an hour when we think not '." The day of the Lord may come upon us, whoever we may be, as it has on her who is now in eternity, “like a thief in the night," so as to give us no warning to prepare ourselves for its arrival.

Ask yourselves, therefore, each of you this solemn question; should God, as he did the "rich man" in the parable, require my soul of me this very night, am I prepared to yield it up? Am I prepared not only to die, but to appear in judgment at the bar of Christ? Shall I be refused

1 Luke xii. 40.