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Let

He is

long expected and hoped for. us go forth, and meet him. come to judgment; but let those tremble at judgment who are afraid of the judge. We are his : he has bought us with his blood; he has renewed and sanctified us by his Spirit; and now he is come to own us in the presence of men and angels, to bestow a kingdom on us, to receive us to himself, that where he is we may be also, and behold his glory.

But then, on the other hand, consider, I beseech you, what a terrible sight it will be to bad men who have laughed at the history of a crucified Jesus, and mocked at a future judgment. And is he come, will such a sinner say, and must I be judged at last, when I thought myself so secure of judgment? What terror is there in his looks! How do his eyes flame with vengeance! Who can abide the day of his wrath! How can I appear before him as my judge whom I would not have for my Saviour? What account can I give of my actions, who never expected to be called to an account for them? What plea can I make for myself, who would never believe, never be persuaded? How can I bear his presence, and yet whither can I flee from him? When he condemns me, to whom can I appeal from the Judge and Saviour of the world?

Let these thoughts then make a deep impression upon our minds, before that day comes. Let us remember that the Son of man will be our judge, he who laid down

his life for us, he who now invites us to repentance, he who now promises pardon and forgiveness to true penitents. Let this teach us to reverence his laws, to imitate his example, to put our whole trust in his merits and intercession, that when he cometh again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and dead, we may rise to the life immortal, as our church teaches us to pray.-SHERLOCK.

HYMN.

Great God, what do I see and hear?
The end of things created!
Behold the Judge of man appear

On clouds of glory seated!
The trumpet sounds, the graves restore
The dead which they contain'd before :
Prepare, my soul, to meet him!

The dead in Christ shall first arise
At the last trumpet's sounding,
Caught up to meet him in the skies,

With joy their Lord surrounding.
No gloomy fears their souls dismay;
His presence sheds eternal day

On those prepar'd to meet him.

But sinners, filled with guilty fears,

Behold his wrath prevailing; For they shall rise, and find that tears

And sighs are unavailing. The day of grace is past and gone; Trembling they stand before the throne All unprepar'd to meet him.

Great God, what do I see and hear?

The end of things created! Behold the Judge of man appear

On clouds of glory seated! Low at his cross, I view the day When heav'n and earth shall pass away, And thus prepare to meet him.

LUTHER (translated).

§ LXXVIII.

CHAP. XXIV. 36-51.

Because the day and hour of the judgment is unknown, we ought to watch like good servants expecting every moment our master's coming.

36¶But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, " but my Father only.

37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

43 'But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have

watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

44 "Therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

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46 Blessed is that servant whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;

49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;

50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

26.

o Mark xiii. 32. Acts i. 7. 1 Thes. v. 2. 2 Pet. iii. 10. p Zech. xiv. 7.-9 Gen. vi. 3, 4, 5; & vii. 5. Luke xvii.

Pet. iii. 20.- Luke xvii. 34, &c.- ch. xxv. 13.

Mark xiii. 33, &c. Luke xxi. 36.- Luke xii. 39. 1 Thes.

2 2 Pet. iii. 10. Rev. iii. 3: & xvi. 15.-u ch. xx.

13. 1 Thes. v. 6.- Luke xii. 42. Acts xx. 28. 1 Cor. iv. 2. Heb. iii. 5.-y Rev. xvi. 15.- ch. xxv. 21, 23. Luke xxii. 29.- Or, cut him off.-a cb. viii. 12; & xxv.

30.

READER. As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.-They knew not until the flood came, and took them all away. -The one shall be taken and the other left.-Those who are under the power of sin are in a state of death; and if they die before they have a principle of new life in them, they fall under the power of death, that is, into that state of misery and punishment which is appointed for such dead souls.-If death arrests us while we are in a state of sin, we must die for ever; but if our souls are alive to God, by a principle of grace and holiness, before our bodies die, they must live for ever. A dead soul must die with its body, that is, sink into a state of misery, which is the death and the loss of the soul. A living soul survives the body in a state of bliss and happiness, and shall receive its body again, glorious and immortal, at the resurrection of the just. But this change of state must be made while we live in these bodies; a dead soul cannot revive in the other world, nor a living soul die there and therefore this life is the day of God's grace and patience, the next world is the place of judgment.SHERLOCK.

Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your lord doth come. Since the time of our death is so unknown and uncertain to us, we ought always to live in expectation of it; to be so far from promising ourselves long life, that we should not promise ourselves a day, and the reason for this is plain and

necessary, because we are not sure of a day. To live always in expectation of dying does not signify a belief that we shall die to day, but only that we may. And such an expectation as this has nothing of dread and terror in it, but only prudence and caution. Men may live very comfortably and enjoy all the innocent pleasures of life, with these thoughts about them. To expect death every day is like expecting thieves every night, which does not disturb our rest, but only makes us lock and bar our doors and provide for our defence. Thus to expect death is not to live under the perpetual fear of dying, but to live as a wise man would do, who knows not that he must, but that he may, die to day. That is, to be

always prepared for death, not to defer our repentance and return to God one moment; not to commit any wilful sin, lest death should surprise us in it; not to be slothful and negligent, but to be always employed in our master's business, according to our Saviour's counsel, "Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh shall find so doing."-SHERLOCK.

Every good man can watch always. And, that we may not be deceived in this, let us know, that the running away from a temptation is a part of our watchfulness, and every good employment is another great part of it, and a laying in provisions of reason and religion beforehand is yet a third part of this watchfulness. And the conversation of a Christian is a per

petual watchfulness: not a continual thinking of that one or those many things which may endanger us; but it is a continual doing something, directly or indirectly, against sin. He either prays to God for his Spirit, or relies on the promises, or places himself at the feet of good men to hear their wise sayings, or calls for the church's prayers, or does the duty of his calling, or actually resists temptation, or frequently renews his holy purposes, or fortifies himself by vows, or searches into his danger by a daily examination; so that, on the whole, he is ever on his guard. This duty and caution of a Christian is like watching lest a man cut his finger. Wise men do not often cut their fingers, yet every day they use a knife. And a man's eye is a very tender thing, and every thing can do it wrong, and every thing can put it out, yet because we love our eyes so well, in the midst of so many dangers, by God's providence and a prudent natural care, by winking when any thing comes against them, and by turning aside when a blow is offered, they are preserved so certainly, that not one man in ten thousand does, by a stroke, lose one of his eyes in all his life time. If we would transplant our natural care into a spiritual caution, we might, by God's grace, be kept from losing our souls, as we are from losing our eyes; and because a perpetual watchfulness is our great defence, and the perpetual presence of God's grace is our great security, and that this grace never

leaves us unless we leave it, the precept of a daily watchfulness is a thing not only reasonable, but easy in many ways to be performed.— TAYLOR.

Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.-It must be the business of our whole lives to prepare for death. Our accounts must be always ready, because we know not how soon we may be called to give account of our stewardship: we must be always on our watch, as not knowing at what hour our Lord will come. Some men talk of preparing for death, as if it were a thing that could be done in two or three days, and that the proper time of doing it were a little before they die. But I know no other preparation for death but living well; and thus we must every day prepare for death, and then we shall be well prepared when death comes; that is, we shall be able to give a good account of our lives, and of the improvement of our talents. He who can do this is well prepared to die, and to go to judgment.

Think what a sad thing it will be when your soul must remove out of that little cottage in which it now dwells, not to be bettered by the removal, but thrust out into outer darkness. Whereas, if ye would give up sin, and embrace Jesus Christ as your joy and your life, in him you would presently be put into a sure, unfailing, right to eternal life.-LEIGHTON.

O Sun of Righteousness, that comest to bring light unto the world

by thy word and example, and illumination of thy Holy Spirit; let thy Spirit lead us, thy example guide us, thy word teach us, that we may not love darkness more than light, but may keep thy righteous judgments, according to our many purposes and our vow of baptism. Keep us from the snare of the ungodly; and from ourselves, the dangers of our own concupiscence, and the miseries of our infirmity. Leave not our souls in our own hands, but keep them under thy protection and government, lest we swerve from thy commandments; but that, applying our hearts always to fulfil thy statutes even unto the end, we may possess thy law as our portion and our inheritance for ever. Grant this, O blessed Jesus, for thy promise and thy mercies' sake, that we may glorify thee in the unity of the most mysterious Trinity, now and for evermore. Amen.TAYLOR.

The lord of that (evil) servant, shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.-Grace is the new nature of a Christian, and hypocrisy the art that counterfeits it. The more exquisite it is in imitation, the more plausible it is to men, but the more abominable to God. It may frame a spiritual man in image so to the life, that not only others, but even the hypocrite himself, may admire it, and, favouring his own artifice, may be deceived so far as to say and to think it lives, and to fall in love with it: but he is no less abhorred by the Searcher of hearts than plea

sing to himself. Surely this mischief of hypocrisy can never be enough inveighed against. When religion is in request, it is the chief malady of the church, and numbers die of it; though because it is a subtle and inward evil, it be little perceived. It is to be feared that there are many sick of it who look well and comely in God's outward worship. They may pass well in good weather, in times of peace, but days of adversity are days of trial. The prosperous estate of the church makes hypocrites, and her distress discovers them. But, if they escape such trial there is one inevitable day coming, wherein all secret things shall be made manifest. Men shall be turned inside out; and among all sinners that shall then be brought before that judgment-seat, the most deformed sight shall be an unmasked hypocrite, and the heaviest sentence shall be his portion.-LEIGHTON.

HYMN.

Alas, what hourly dangers rise,
What snares beset my way!
To heaven oh! let me lift mine eyes,
And hourly watch and pray.

O gracious God, in whom I live,
My feeble efforts aid;
Help me to watch, and strive, and pray,
Though trembling and afraid.

Increase my faith, increase my hope,

When foes and fears prevail; And bear my fainting spirit up, Or soon my faith will fail.

Whene'er temptations fright mine heart,
Or lure my feet aside,
My God, thy powerful aid impart,
My guardian and my guide!

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