- transformed by the re"Redeeming the time, "Set your affections and habits, are they safe? Should you or I like to receive our last awful summons at the tavern, or the alehouse, at the ball, the theatre, or the card table? After all the specious apologies urged on behalf of frequenting these or similar places, few, I imagine, would wish for death to overtake them at such a time; few would pretend to say that in following such things they are walking in the steps, or imitating the example of their Lord and Saviour; and they would find it difficult to reconcile such practices with these precepts: "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye newing of your mind.”1 because the days are evil."2 on things above, not on things on the earth." "My son, give me thine heart."4 "If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” 5 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." "And they that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts."7 "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."8 1 Rom. xii. 2. ⚫ Ephes. v. 16. • Col. iii. 2. 6 1 John ii. 15. 8 1 Cor. x. 31. 993 This at least I will venture with confidence to say, that the real spirit and temper of Christianity, and the common, allowed temper and spirit of the world never can subsist together in the same bosom; and that they who have really felt the power of religion in their hearts, and have been brought to be in earnest about their salvation, to seek it as really the first concern, the " thing needful," will no longer have leisure or inclination for such things. one Brethren, I wish you to receive, and apply as they are meant, the few observations here given you on the text. Our Lord, that Saviour whose name we bear, in whom we profess to believe, whom we have all solemnly pledged ourselves to obey, is represented to us as a man taking a journey into a far country, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work. Every professing Christian is the servant of Jesus Christ. We are placed by him in his vineyard, and all of us have our appointed work; to one he has given ten talents, to another five, to another perhaps only one. In filling up our proper place, in improving faithfully, diligently, and wisely the talents, whatever they are, committed to us, in understanding, and doing our proper work with quietness, patience, and cheerfulness, not envying those above us or despising those below us, 1 not intermeddling with the work of others, we shall best fulfil the will of our Lord, and prepare for the inconceivably grand and important event the text places before us. We are all equally, all most deeply interested in it. Were we called upon to prepare for an event which might, or might not happen, negligence would be excusable. But "it is appointed to men once to die, after this the judgment." Whilst all other events and emergencies, about which we are making such anxious and careful provision, are totally uncertain" the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night;" and "when they shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. A fall, a blow, a robber, a nocturnal conflagration, a fit of apoplexy, a sudden fever, one of the many thousand weapons which death wields, may cut us off, we know not how or when. Is it not then common prudence to be always ready? If we meet with worldly losses or disappointments, they may be repaired, or at most they are but temporary; our joys and sorrows in this world will soon have an end. But what shall recompense us for the loss of eternity? “What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for BB his soul ?" And if death cut us off unprepared, what must become of us? If the happiness or misery of the next life too were mixed or imperfect, or came to an end, this might somewhat account for the infatuation of those who neglect to prepare for eternity. But who can describe the happiness of heaven, or the misery of hell, who can calculate eternity? Brethren, the very thought overwhelms us! God grant that we may all lay this subject seriously to heart, and that whatever the past has been, we may so through grace begin this new year, that it may indeed be a happy year to us, that we may make sure of an interest in him who hath conquered death, and who has in his hands the keys of the invisible world. 1 St. Matt. xvi. 26. SERMON XIII. 2 CORINTHIANS iv. 16, 17, 18. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. THERE are many evidences which God has afforded us for the truth of our religion; but there is one, when rationally and scripturally understood, equally convincing and delightful: I mean, when we experience its power over our hearts, and, however imperfectly, in our lives and conversations. This is a kind of evidence which all can understand, and which those who have really felt |