you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works; let all your energies be exerted to redeem the time. It is now high time to awake out of sleep; for now is your salvation nearer than when you believed." And doubt not but that, through the blessing of God upon the means of his own appointment, you may yet retrieve all that you have lost; and that your progress in faith and hope, and holy joy, may even greatly exceed your former attainments.

But let those of the children of Zion, who are in some measure diligently engaged in working out their own salvation with fear and trembling, go on and prosper. Never remit your diligence till you arrive in the land of eternal rest; forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, be continually pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Every new attainment in religion will be accompanied with new delight, and will make your farther progress more rapid, and more easy; and you may in this manner indulge the joyful hope of having an entrance ministered unto you abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stead. fast, immovable, always abound. ing in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.' Evan. Mag.

ON OUR LIABILITY TO SUDDEN DEATH.

THE liability of man to sudden death, is doubtless one of

the means by which Providence intends to keep alive in us the sense of eternal things. The most healthy persons are peculiarly subject to the more violent disorders, and they also are most exposed to a variety of accidents. These are the men who fall in war, and encounter the perils of the sea; who visit unhealthy climates, and die under the disorders which so much abound there. These also, it is to be feared, are the men who are the least disposed to religion. If it should happen to any of these hale and thoughtless persons to cast an eye on the present paper, I would entreat them for once to consider seriously the subject of which it treats. A little meditation upon it will not bring Death the nearer, and it may serve to lessen the dread of this king of terrors, whenever he shall actually approach.

Death, in one sense, comes suddenly, upon almost all : I mean, that however slowly it may advance, however plain and full may be the notice which it gives, few dying men are inclined to believe that it is extremely near. We feel our health decay; but our friends are perpetually telling us of some one who has had exactly the same symptoms of decline, and has recovered. We have manifest tokens of a speedy departure; but our phy. sician deems it necessary to sus tain our spirits, and endeavors to cheer us in proportion as our danger is become plain and im.' minent. We entertain, at the most, only a slight suspicion of the true state of the case. We lose our faculties before the se cret is fully disclosed to us ; and perhaps the opportunity is scarce

ly given even to cry out, "the Lord have mercy on our souls."

Such being the common course, it cannot be improper to suggest to the living, and more particularly to those who are presuming on their health and strength, a few means of preparation for that sudden death to which we are all so evidently and so con. stantly exposed.

The first point on which I shall touch is, the making of a will.

It is surprising that this act of prudence, and indeed of justice, should so often be neg. lected. The mode of bequeathing our property should be religiously considered. How many are there who chiefly consult their ambition or their foolish partiality in drawing up this solemn instrument? "I commit my soul," say they, "to the hands of God"-" and my mon. ey," they might add, to the hands of one already overloaded with wealth, which causes him to riot in luxury; or to some flatterer of my person, some favorer of my vices, some one by whom I have been through life agreeably deceived; and this I do in sure and certain hope of life everlasting."

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A second suggestion which I would offer, respects the orderly settlement of our general affairs. It is the part of a wise man, never to let his concerns fall into a state of confusion, out of which no man can extricate them but himself. "Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die and not live,' is an expression which will bear to be construed literal. ly. Some men never know the trouble which their own negli. gent, desultory, and idle habits in this respect occasion. What

a laborious work is often that of an executor ! How large a portion of the concerns of men of large fortune is thrown into chancery after their decease, on account of the obscurity which involves them! What family disputes, what animosities, what disappointment and distress, what doubt and suspense, what unnecessary labor and turmoil, arise out of this cause!-I say unnecessary, because a few hours of prudent consideration and patient industry in the deceased, would have saved as many months of anxiety and toil in his succes

sors.

We have no right thus to tax posterity. Let our bills then be punctually paid. Let there always exist a list of our debtors and creditors, and a gen. eral inventory and estimate of our chief property. Let there be a periodical statement, upon paper, of the whole of our income and expenditure. Let our title deeds and other securities be in their proper places. Let all engagements, which we are in honor bound to perform by ourselves or our executors, be reduced to writing. And let there be no papers kept by us, which either charity, prudence, or general propriety ought to have led us to destroy.

A third hint which I would give, is, that restitution should be made to as many as we have injured, before either death arrives or a dying hour approach. es-I use the word restitution in a large sense. There are few, probably there are none, whom we have wronged in their prop erty; there may be many, nev. ertheless, whose interests we have unjustly prejudiced, whose repu tation we have unfairly lessened,

whose faults we have more or less exaggerated, whose kindness we have inadequately returned. There may be some whom we have peevishly or too hastily assumed to be our enemies, and against whom we have fancied that we have only been protect ing ourselves by becoming ene. mies to them in our turn. Let us endeavor, while we are in life and health, to do justice in points like these. Let us not die being in this sense in debt to any one. Our pecuniary debts will be discharged by our executors; but if we die, leaving this species of debt, it will be never paid.

Fourthly. I would add, that we are called by our christian profession to do much more than justice to our neighbor: we should even forgive his wrong. How blessed a thing is it to die being in this important sense in debt to no man, but leaving many men in debt to us; having par doned freely the injuries which we had received, and having in. flicted no injuries, without having endeavored at least to make full restitution! Let us beware, on this ground, of long protracted controversies and quarrels. "Let not the sun," said the apostle, go down upon your wrath." Perhaps that very night, in which you fail to lay aside the anger of the preceding day, may be the night of your sudden de. parture into the presence of God. It is required of all who are par. takers of the Lord's supper, that they shall be in charity with all men; otherwise they shall not presume to eat of Christ's flesh and drink of his blood. How much more necessary is it to be in charity with all men before we go to taste of that fruit of the

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vine, of which we hope to partake together with Christ himself in his kingdom above; before we join the general assembly and church of the first born, whose names are written in heaven! The believer may prepare himself, by the special exercise of forgive. ness at regularly returning seasons, for the table of his Lord on earth but he may be called by a sudden voice to the heavenly feast. Let us, therefore, be always ready to meet the Bride. groom; for we know not at what hour the Lord may come. Let us be in the exercise of faith and hope, and, "" above all things, let us have fervent charity among ourselves."

I proceed, fifthly, to urge a general moderation in our affection to the things of this life. The men of the old world were swept off in the midst of their planting and building; they married and were given in marriage, they ate, they drank, until the flood came and destroyed them all. It is an awful thing to be carried away while enjoying the full relish of even allowable gratifications. "O David, David," (said Dr. Johnson to his friend Mr. Garrick, while walking in Mr. Garrick's beautiful garden at Hampton,) "these are the things which make death seem so terrible." Christianity as clearly inculcates sobriety of mind as to all world. ly enjoyments, as it does absti66 But nence from gross vices. this I say, brethren, the time is short. It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none, and they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not, and they that

vidual.

buy as though they possessed not, and they that use this world as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away." Contemplate that envied indiHe has succeeded in all the objects of his ambition. He has increased his fortune, raised his fame, established his family, enlarged his influence on every side, and multiplied his creditable connexions. He is living in no vice; he is a decent friend even to religion, But his mind is occupied in still adding house to house, and field to field; in admiring the foundation of worldly prosperity which his early wisdom had laid, and in raising still higher the splendid superstructure. There is, as yet, no sensation of weakness in his frame, no paleness in his cheek; his conscience is easy and his sleep is sound; he renders, he says, to every man his due, and he diverts some little part of his ample revenue to the poor and needy. He looks with complacency on the minute good which he is doing, but with still higher satisfaction on the multitude of dependents who obey him, of humble friends who solicit his favor, of rich and great men who admit him into their circle and call familiarly at his door. He fills a large space in his own eye, and in the eye of those around him; and his heart is distended with joy, while he contemplates his still increasing honors, possessions, and enjoy ments : "Is not this great Babylon that I have built ?"---I would not pronounce a severe sentence against any man; I would, nevertheless, say to every such person (and what prosperous individual may not be

The day of

included in the admonition ?) Take heed lest "thou in thy life time shouldst receive thy good things "take heed lest the sum which thou art giving to the poor should be only like the crumbs which Lazarus gathered from the rich man's table ;... take heed lest thy heart should be overcharged, if not with surfeit and drunkenness, at least with the cares of this world; and so that day should come up. on thee unawares. true glory to the Christian, is not that in which he shines here below above his earthly fellows; it will be that in which he shall appear in white raiment before God, holding a palm in his hand, in token of his having when on earth gained the victory over the world. Alive to the dangers of his station, knowing how hard it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven," he is ever jealous of himself; and amidst all his earthly prosperity feels that he carries about with him a body of sin and death. He desires to escape from the temptations to which his wealth exposes him; from the allurements of the flesh, from the temptations of the world, from the mob which is ever attempting to surround him---the mob, I mean, of selfish, flattering, eager, worldly minded men.. præclarum illum diem, cum ex hâc turbâ proficiscar."---To such a character, sudden death is only sudden deliverance.

Acquaintance with God is another important point, which must be mentioned. Many persons think that they sufficiently prepare for death, by perform. ing (it matters little, according to them, from what principle,)

the proper duty of their station. Duty to God enters little into their thoughts. Even duty to man is very imperfectly comprehended by them; and the little part of it which is understood, is very inadequately performed. They seem to themselves to do as well as their neighbors; indeed, self-love suggests that they do better. They do not disbelieve the gospel; they have not examined it sufficiently to make them disbelieve. They incline to the doctrines of their church, because competent men having declared them to be true: it is the part of modesty to adopt the received system of orthodoxy. After all, however, their chief reliance is this, that their life is good.

"He can't be wrong, whose life is in the right."

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They occasionally hear of some doctrinal points, but into these they do not take the trouble of entering. "If," (say they, for example) when I arrive in the world of light, I shall find that the doctrine of the atonement is true, my good life on earth will, as I trust, entitle me to a share in the benefits of that atonement. If the tenet shall turn out to be false, my good life, in that case also, must be the means of saving me. Much thought upon the subject is therefore unnecessary." Moreover they are continually occupied; they have their family affairs to manage, their company to entertain, their profession to attend to; and human nature, they add, requires also some recreations. God, they trust, will not condemn them for having been no great theologians; he will make allowance for their circumstances,

and will afford to them their share in the common mercies reserved for his creatures, even though he should not exalt them to the highest place in heaven.

Our liability to sudden death is one, perhaps, of the most awakening topics which can be sét before such persons. Is it not an awful thing for a man to appear before his eternal Judge

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a man who perhaps has applied his mind to the whole circle of human sciences-without having ever exercised his thought either on the laws of God, on the nature of his government, or the means of salvation which the divine wisdom has provided for the sons of men, and has expressedly revealed from heaven? would ask the person whom I have described, the following questions: Is it not possible that the atonement for sin, in which you scarcely know whether you believe, might, if duly contemplated, become the means of opening to you a new view of your whole condition; of discovering to you that natural corruption of man, which it so necessarily implies; of softening your hard heart, and attracting your affections to God and religion? Might it not thus supply powerful motives to virtuous action, and thus conduce to that good life which you acknowledge to be necessary? May not, therefore, a lively faith in this doctrine, a doctrine which implies the renunciation of that confidence in your good works to which you are inclining, be appointed by God to be the very instrument of your salvation? Again : May you not err, as I have indeed already intimated that you are likely to do, as to the na