SERMON I.

MORTALITY OF MAN.

ISAIAH xl. 6, 7.

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry?-All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it;surely the people is grass.

THERE is hardly any thing which more disposes a man for serious religion, hardly any thing which more powerfully leads him to fix his thoughts and his heart on God, and to embrace the salvation offered him through Christ, than the contemplation of the shortness and uncertainty of human life. This affecting consideration,

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accordingly, appears to be proposed by the divine teacher in the chapter from which the text is taken, in order to "prepare" in the hearts of men "the way of the Lord," and to dispose them to receive with thankfulness the good tidings of the coming of Him who should "feed his flock like a shepherd, and gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bo

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As death first came into the world as the punishment and consequence of sin, so the proper consideration of death would materially weaken sin's influence and dominion. Moses appears to have foreseen with a melancholy foreboding the sinfulness and rebellion against God of the people whom he conducted. As the means of preventing such disobedience, the best and the kindest wish that he could form

a Isaiah xl. 11.

for them, was, that they might be wise enough to "consider their latter end"." It is from being unmindful of their latter end that so many men live thoughtless, sensual lives, and thus pass from this world into another without any reasonable grounds for hoping that their existence in that other world can be any thing but an existence of misery.

When a man, who has not absolutely cast off all belief in God and in a future life, considers his death as near, it naturally makes him serious, and more than usually careful not to do any thing, which may render worse his condition in the world, to which he thinks himself hastening. When on the other hand we see men who profess to believe in God, yet in works denying him, and living in wilful disobedience to his laws, giving the reins

b Deut. xxxii. 29.

to their lusts and appetites, and acting as if this world were their only portion, it is, generally speaking, because they persuade themselves that they have as yet many years to live. The tempter perhaps does not exactly suggest to them as he did to Eve, "Ye shall not surely die,” but contrives to make them regard death as still far distant. The young, in the vigour and high spirits of youth, are apt to feel confident that they, at all events, must have many years to look forward to. They therefore boldly venture "to walk in the ways of their own heart, and after the sight of their own eyes," to follow the guidance of their fleshly lusts and appetites, and perhaps to laugh at those who would kindly warn them of their danger. This confidence and reckless behaviour would surely be checked, if they could be

e Eccles. xi. 9.

brought to reflect upon the uncertainty of life even to the most young and healthy, and if the reflexion came accompanied by the thought, that for all these things, all the sins and lusts and waywardness of youth, "God will bring them into judgment"."

The man who has set his heart upon the riches of this world, and has succeeded in acquiring a large portion of them, is ready to flatter himself that he shall live long to enjoy them. He is disposed to "say to his soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merrye.' In this fond persuasion he "has made gold his hope, and has said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence'," and has perhaps acquired the pride and hard-heartedness with which such possessions are sometimes

a Eccles. xi. 9. e Luke xii. 19. f Job xxxi. 24.