"Wet, dry, cold, heat, at the appointed hour'
All act subservient to the tyrant's power;
And when obedient nature knows her will,
A fly, a grape-stone, or a hair can kill."

wonderful, when we consider the deli-ing, are cherishing the same feelings cacies of the human frame; the multi- with respect to ourselves. "The heart plicity of fine and tender parts, of which alone knoweth its own bitterness." it is composed; the troops of diseases Troubles have in many cases been sufthat await us, and the dangers that "stand fered with ten-fold their severity by thick through all the ground, to push us anticipation. The imagination is too to the tomb." A very trivial thing some- actively engaged in magnifying the little times stops the current of life, and snaps cloud, till it has covered the heavens asunder the vital bond. with blackness; vividly pourtraying to the mind all the serious and direful consequences to follow. Were it not for such a proneness in man to expect and meet trials, thousands would never be realised, either in whole or in part. These afflictions are far heavier than real ones; there is no support under them-no promise to encourage--no sympathy from Christian friends. Yet the sorrows of life, be it remembered, are mingled with much good. "Our mercies are new every morning, and new every evening." They are also rendered useful in

Nearly half the human race die in infancy. Millions only just appear on the stage; and long before the close of a single scene, withdraw, and are found no more. View life

ment to earth-withdraw our affections from it-and reconcile us to leave it. They endear to us the Scriptures-the throne of grace-the sympathy of Jesus

"The rougher the blast,
The sooner 'tis past;
The tempests that rise,

"All

Shall gloriously hurry us home to the skies."

II. In its sorrows-" Full of trouble." Misfortune and calamity attend on every hand, and proclaim nothing certain in this uncertain world. To calculate on unruffled peace or uninterrupted pros-themselves. They prevent our attachperity, in such a changeable state of existence, is presumption. "Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward." It may arise from various causes, but principally from the frailty and the glory to be revealed. The of human life and premature bereave- brevity, too, of their duration, corrects ment. The psalmist complained of this their bitterness; the conflict may be when he said, "Lover and friend hast sharp, but the warfare will soon be ac Thou put far from me, and mine accomplished; the road may be rough, quaintance into darkness." Rachael and the weather stormy, but our Father's felt it, and is represented as weeping for house-our home-is at hand. her children; "refusing to be comforted things work together for our good." because they are not." Martha regretted it, and exclaimed, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." Jacob deprecated it, and bemoaned himself; saying, "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take away Benjamin III. In its shortness-"Few days." Few also; all these things are against me." days when contrasted with the years of Life is full of troubles from beginning to our ancestors. Some, whose history is end; from infancy to old age; from the recorded, lived to a very extended age. cradle to the grave. There is scare an Adam lived nine hundred and thirty interval, in which the mind is free from years; Seth nine hundred and twelve; it. Full of troubles, arising either from and Methuselah nine hundred and sixtysecular afflictions or bodily infirmities; nine years. The Divine Being from from moral imperfections, or from the that time has gradually abridged man's wickedness of others. Full of troubles: existence. "The days of our years are real or imaginary. How many losses three-score years and ten; and if, by and crosses-risings and fallings-disap- reason of strength, they be fourscore pointments, trying circumstances, and years, yet is their strength labour and painful anxieties, corrode and distress sorrow, for we are soon cut off and we the mind!. It enters the palace, as well flee away." There is not a man now as the cottage; and befals the rich, as living, who expects to go far beyond this; well as the poor. We are often tempted many of you, probably, will never reach to discontent, by comparison; while the meridian. Human nature has its perhaps, the very persons we are envy-morning, noon and night-its spring,

Contemplate life

"

Well, if our days must fly,

We'll keep their end in sight;

We'll spend them all in Wisdom's ways,
And let them speed their flight."

V. Its uncertainty-"Continueth not." The world itself is perpetually changing, and all its gaudy scenery, like some pompous procession, passes away. Its riches, honours, and pleasures, cities empires, and nations, pass away; health, strength, life, and beauty, pass away. "A century sweeps the globe! Facts

summer, autumn and winter. The first day? It is with the years beyond the breath we draw, is so much of nature ex-flood, and you may as well attempt to hausted; the first hour we live, is an ap bring back one of them as to recal the proach to the grave; infancy is a step, last moment. "It remaineth, therefore, youth is a stride, mature age is a greater that they that have wives be as though advance, declining age is a near arrival, they had none; and that they that weep, as and old age is the foot lifted up to step though they wept not; and they that into the tomb. "What man is he, that rejoice, as though they rejoice not; and liveth and shall not see death? Is there they that buy, as though they possessed not a house appointed for all living?" not; and they that use the world, as not Life consists of but few days, when viewed abusing it." Christians exemplifying the through the medium of scriptural repre- spirit of this passage, can sing with the sentations. Various figures and images devotional poet of our countryare employed, in order to illustrate its nature; such as a bubble on the wave; a leaf driven to and fro, which, however fresh and green for a season, soon fades and withers away; a lighted torch, burnt out by the decay of nature, blown out by unforeseen accidents, or wasted away by the rapid progress of disease; a day (we accomplish as an hireling our day); a handsbreadth, a step, a flood, a flower, a tale that is told, a sleep, a dream, a watch in the night, a cloud, "a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then the most incontrovertible acknowledge it. vanisheth away;" a shadow that declineth Where are the millions that have peopled on the plain smoke; a weaver's shuttle; our world? the great and the mighty. a post; a swift ship; a flying eagle; and the gay and the serious? They were to present it in the shortest view possible, once engaged in scenes of social mirth, it is said to be wind; "nothing" before chanted to the sound of the viol and the God, "altogether vanity." What is such harp, the tabret and pipe were in their a life, for the purposes for which it was feasts, they had the same fond attachment given? the salvation of the soul, the and endearing sympathies with ourglorifying of God, the serving our gene-selves; but they have gone the way ration? On the present fleeting moment all the earth, and the place that once depends all the business of eternity. knew them, knows them no more.' live among the ruin of past generations, and tread upon the of the departed. grave Beneath our feet is the scattered dust of many a dissolved tabernacle, whose inIV. In its rapidity-" Fleeth as a habitant has long since passed into etershadow." Whether the allusion is drawn nity. It is scarcely possible to take a from the shadow of a cloud on the earth, walk, and not to trample on the ashes of or the shadow of a sun dial, which is the dead. Where is the earth, that has continually moving onward, or the not been alive? Death inhabits all shadow of the evening, which is lost things but the thought of man. The when night comes on, or the shadow of a world is like one vast field of battle, on bird flying, which uninterruptedly bends which you are engaged with the enemy; forwards its course, is not certain. Each to-day you have escaped, but others have of the figures fully represents the life of perished; to-morrow you must again man, which is quickly passing, whether enter the field and renew the combat, he be loitering or active, careless or seri- but who has told you that the lot so ous, killing or improving time. The fatal to others, will always prove favourclock that strikes tells us not that we able to you? And since you must have so much time in possession, but eventually perish, no folly can be greater that so much is irrecoverably gone; for than to attempt to build a permanent which reason the poet calls it "The knell dwelling, on the very spot destined to of a departed hour." Where is yester- serve for your sepulchre. Some of you

"A moment's time, an instant's space,
Removes us to the heavenly place,
Or shuts us up in hell."

Reflect on it

of

We

already feel, that you are not what you | us in ignorance If the time were known once were; the roses that blossomed on to be distant, it would furnish a strong your cheek have faded; the sprightli- temptation to neglect all preparation for ness that beamed in your eye is ex- eternity, and induce us to become the tinguished; the health that braced your creature of mere appetite and passion. frame has fled; the keepers of the house If the period were known to be near, it begin to tremble, and the strong men to would operate so powerfully upon our bow themselves; the almond tree minds, as to unfit us for the proper disflourishes, and the daughters of music charge of the duties of this life, and atare brought low. tention to the concerns of the next.

The appointment of God confirms it. "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." And what is death? An event the most solemn and affecting that can transpire. It is the termination of all the busy concerns of life; it is a farewell to earth with all its possessions and attractions; it is the disruption of every tie of relation and friendship; to say to corruption, Thou art my father,' and to the worm, Thou art my mother and sister;' it is the destruction of the body, so fearfully and wonderfully made, and the reducing it to such a state of loathsomeness, as compels the survivors to bury the dead out of their sight, and inscribe over the sepulchre

"How loved, how valued once, avails thee not;
To whom related, or by whom begot:
A heap of dust alone remains of thee;
'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be."

It is entering into a new and untried mode of existence; it is a transition from a course of action, to a world of retribution; it is an occurrence that can never be repealed, and the consequences of which are irreversible. When and where this change will take place, our heavenly Father, for wise reasons, keeps

Our passage to the tomb may be sudden; probably in the bloom of youth, while anticipating a long succession of enjoyment. The icy hand of death may seize its victim in the solemn hour of midnight, when deep sleep falleth upon man; it may tear him from the social circle and consign him to the dreary grave, with the dimple of mirth upon his cheek. "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."

Its

The frailty of man should teach us dependence on God; the number of our months is with Him, and precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. The troubles of life should conduce to our improvement, and reliance on the promises of the Lord. shortness should inspire diligence, and prompt us to number our days and apply our hearts unto wisdom. Its uncertainty should excite watchfulness, not knowing the day or the hour when the Son of man shall come.

May the Lord deeply impress the sub|ject upon our hearts, and His name shall have the praise.

THE SEVENTEENTH OF A COURSE OF LECTURES

ON THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE.

BY THE REV. T. GOUGH, Sen.

delivered at wESTBURY LEIGH CHAPEL, ON LORD'S DAY MORNING, APRIL 1, 1838.

"Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die; for 1 have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee."-Rev. iii. 2, 3.

PAINFUL or pleasant as the work may | parating the precious from the vile. Our be, we are commanded, as ministers, to blessed Lord was a Perfectionist here. notice things that differ; and we are in He did it to the life. And nowhere will that sense as the mouth of God, when se- you perceive more of the excellency of

His ministry, than in that admirable ser-
mon He delivered on the Mount. Our
Divine Redeemer there, you perceive,
lays down a marked distinction between
the church and the world. The world is
comparable to darkness, and to that which
tends to putrefaction; while the disciples
of Christ are compared to "light," and
considered as the "salt of the earth." A
very great distinction and opposition.
But remember, that neither light nor salt
are worthy of the name, only as they re-
tain their proper qualities and exercise
these qualities and extend them. Our
Lord, therefore, argues in this manner
"No man lighteth a candle and putteth
it under a bushel, but on a candlestick,
that it may give light to all that are in
the house." "Salt is good," while it re-
tains its quality and that quality is
exerted; "but if the salt hath lost its sa-
vour, it is neither fit for the land nor yet
for the dunghill." "It is bad enough,"
says an old author, "for the world and in-
dividuals in it to be dead; but it is doubly
bad for the professors of Christ to be dead
while they live."

Our Lord meets this church in its imperfect state and says, "Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God." With this holy counsel, our Lord proceeds in a very solemn way, in order to excite the church's attention to the counsel itself. "Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." A threatening like this is exceedingly solemn and exceedingly awful indeed. Churches that once stood high and shone bright, have painfully learned the truth of this. And there is a period coming, when Christ will personally appear and carry out this threatening, where obstinacy, perverseness and impenitence are persisted in.

We now proceed to consider the words of our text, "Be watchful, &c." It seems to me, we hear but little comparatively of this injunction now. It is an injunction of our Divine Lord's. It stands opposed to indifference to that drowsy, sleepy, lukewarm and careless frame of mind, we are in danger of sinking into, and which may come upon us. A question arises;

what is it, that requires so much attention and watchfulness of spirit in a child of God? To watch the movements of some things, and against the operations of other things. Now where is he to place the watch? Where? I don't know anything requires this, so much as the very sinful cause we carry in our own bosoms. You recollect the injunction in the fourth of Proverbs, verse twenty three-" Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." I had almost said, Out of it are the issues of death. Now is not the heart "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked?" The heart is the principal thing. Is not the internal state of our souls, of all things the most important? Anything that bears upon the heart seriously affects us; and if the movement of the heart be wrong, of course every movement depending upon that is wrong also. Nothing requires so much watchfulness as our own sinful depraved heart. How often is it starting aside; how often departing from the living God; how liable to sink into a state of heaviness, unwatchfulness and carnality! We have always need to set the watch at home, and to look to the state of our own hearts. We are more liable (I should suppose), to impose upon ourselves than to be imposed upon by others. It is a possible thing, for the heart to be wrong when we imagine all is right. I think our blessed Lord lays this before us in the twenty-first of Luke, and you will do well to consider the heart itself, and external things that improperly excite it or bring it into a state of spiritual deadness; now, says Christ, "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares; for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.'

Again; we have need to watch against the maxims of the world. The world is a system of lying vanities. It promises much, but often promises that which you will never realize. Not only is the world the enemy of our souls, but there is always a combination against the believer's spiritual good. How striking is the language of Peter, in the fifth chapter of his first