Death hath dissolved the endearing relation which subsisted between her and you, forever. All your tears and sighs, cannot bring her back. You must go to her, but she cannot come to you.

When our friends die, our duty to them is ended. It remains for the living to lay it to heart. Fail not to bring this warning home to your hearts. Now that the streams of earthly comfort begin to fail, "Set your affections on things above, and not on things on the earth." And when Christ who is our life shall appear, then may ye also appear with him in glory.

My fellow mortals, it is a solemn thing to die. When I look around on this assembly, I see none who must not die. Though death now appears solemn, yet ere long it will appear still more solemn. These mortal bodies on which you fondly dote, will soon decay and die. Your friends will assemble around you, and taking you by the hand, tell you that you are dying. O, how will you then feel?

All earthly relations now subsisting among you, will soon be dissolved. Husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, must all bow to the king of terrors. As the nations which have gone before us, are all sleeping in the dust, and the living walk over them; so shortly our bodies will all lie in the grave, and the living will walk over us. This solemn sound E R is dead, now strikes the ear of many a gay and thoughtless youth in this assembly. So will it shortly be said of each one of us. The living will call us all by name, one after another-he is dead— she is dead; and we shall all soon be forgotten among the living. "The places which now know us, will know us no more forever.”

There is something solemn in the close of a day-of a week-of a month-of a year. The present is the last Sabbath, and the last day of the year. Here let us pause, and take a retrospect of the year that is gone. Let each one ask himself, what report has it borne to heaven? Thousands of millions of our fellow travelers, have, during this period, gone to their long home. Many of them commenced the year with blooming health, and bright earthly prospects. And where are they now? "The fathers, where are they ?"

"The mighty flood, that rolls along

Its torrents to the main,

The waters lost can ne'er recall,

From that abyss again.

The days, the years, the ages dark,

Descending down to night,

Can never, never be redeemed,
Back to the gates of light.

Where are our fathers? Whither gone
The mighty dead of old?

The patriarchs, prophets, princes, kings,
In sacred books enrolled?

Gone to the resting place of man,

His long, his silent home;
Where ages past have gone before,

Where future ages come."

Had you been among that number, where would your souls have been now? Let me ask, have you repented of your sins, and made your peace with God?

One year more of your day of salvation is gone. One year more, you have enjoyed the privileges of the gospel. One year more, God has been waiting to be gracious. The sins of one year more, you have to answer for at the bar of God. You have one year less to

live. You are one year nearer to the grave and the judgment of the great day. And where are you now? Have you one year more, stood as a barren fig-tree in God's vineyard? The voice of mercy, spare it a little longer, has prevailed one year more. Her voice is waxing feebler and feebler, while the voice of justice is waxing louder and louder, “Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground."

SERMON XIV.

Christ's coming to Judgment.

When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him : then shall he sit on the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations.-MATTHEW XXV: 31, 32.

THE doctrine of a future general judgment, is a fundamental doctrine of the christian religion. It is inseparably connected with the idea of God's moral government. If he is the moral governor of the world, and if mankind are the subjects of his government, it is rational to suppose that he would appoint a day in which he would judge the world in righteousness. That he has done it, he has explicitly and repeatedly assured us in his word. The text and context contain a description of the scenes which will occur on that day. "When the son of man shall come in his glory," &c.

In discoursing from the text, I propose to consider— I. The certainty of Christ's coming to judgment. II. The time when he will come.

III. The manner of his coming.

The certainty of a future general judgment ap

pears

1. From the justice of God. This divine attribute is not fully displayed in the present world. Here we

often see good men afflicted and bad men prosperous. This inequality loudly proclaims a judgment to come. For we cannot suppose that God will fail to reward virtue and to punish vice. "Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.”

2. The certainty of a future judgment may be inferred from our relation to God as accountable creatures. God cannot suffer his law to be broken, and his authority to be contemned with impunity. If we are under law, we must be called to an account, and there must be a day of reckoning.

3. The resurrection of Christ evinces the certainty of a general judgment. Thus the apostle reasoned. "Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the earth in righteousness, by that man whom he hath appointed, whereof he hath given assurance in that he hath raised him from the

unto all dead."

men,

The argument stands thus. Christ, while on earth, declared himself to be the judge of the world. If he rose from the dead, he was beyond all question what he claimed to be. This miracle incontestibly established all his claims. That God will judge the world, therefore, by Jesus Christ, he hath given assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

4. The certainty of Christ's coming to judgment appears from many express declarations of scripture. The text is explicit on this point. Other passages are equally decisive. "Christ was ordained of God to be judge of quick and dead." "He shall judge the quick and dead at his appearing and kingdom.” Enoch,

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