your companions will also be witnesses against you; conscience will also accuse you; Satan will accuse you, and God himself, who searches all hearts, will punish you as sinners. The Judge will be impartial; he will pay no more respect to those children that are rich, than he does to those who are poor. The consequences of the day of judgment, to good children, will be delightful: It will wipe off all that disgrace and scorn and contempt that have been thrown on them by the wicked. We shall then know who loved God and Jesus Christ most: And he will love them, and tell them so before men, angels and devils: blessed children He will say to them, "Come ye of my father, inherit the kingdom." But how awful will the consequences of the day of judgment be to those who know not God! wicked, ungodly children! they will be exposed; their secret sins will be brought to light; they will be driven from God's tribunal with a curse, and tormented in hell forever! Hear their awful and tremendous sentence, "Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." This is the last closing scene; the sentence will be executed. This is awful to think on, but much more tremendous to experience. 0, my dear children, my bowels yern over you: I pity your awful condition from my soul. O that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night over the misery of wicked and careless children. I shall conclude these awful and serious subjects, by a few remarks, suitable to you, my young friends, to the subject before me, and the season of the year. 1. Death may have been very near to some of you in the past year. Is it so, my young friends, does the colour of your garments shew that what I say is true? has not Death taken from you a dear companion? has he not separated from you a beloved school-fellow, one who sat near you at school, perhaps on the same bench, or in the same class? but the place is now filled by another. Is it true, that you have been deprived of a sister or a brother? have you lost a tender father or an affectionate mother? Ah, my young friends, he has also visited me the last week, and snatched from me a beloved child, before it saw the light, or breathed the breath of life. My feelings and yours are something similar. I can weep with those who weep." Even now I see the tears starting from your eyes: O that you may be prepared to die whenever death may come. 66 When 2. I remark that you must all die. I look into yonder grave yard, I see many hillocks, many grave stones; perhaps there may be an open one which will, ere long, be filled by a cold and lifeless body. And must this body die, And must these active limbs of mine, Is it an infant, a child, or a young person in the bloom of youth? is it one who has seen many summers, and passed through many winters in this vale of tears? Ah, my young friends, it has been said, Xerxes wept over his of 1,000,000 men, to think they would all die within a hundred years. I might weep to think you will not only die in that time, but your eternal state will be unalterably fixed; before a hundred years are past and gone, you will be happy or miserable forever. vast army 3. Many of you, perhaps I might say, all of you, are unprepared to die; I would not for a thousand worlds say that you may count on many years to come: long life falls to the lot of very few of Adam's children. The remainder of your days on earth may be but few: what if an angel should come down from Heaven, and tell one of you little boys, or one of you little girls, that before this year expires, you must die and appear before the bar of God! My dear children, this year is almost closed; yet near as it is to the end, you may die; I repeat it, before Wednesday next, an arrow from the bow of Death may pierce your heart! are you fit to die? are you sure of going to Heaven, if you should die? or do you think that you are so sinful that you never can be admitted into that holy and happy place? 4. If you are not prepared for the hour of death, how will you be able to stand before God at the day of judgment? what a solemn, awful, doleful day it will be to thousands! I fear that you would give but a bad accouut of yourselves: how have you spent your time? What answer will you make, when the judge shall ask a reason for your sinful, wicked conduct in a present world? 5. Remember that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." We must all be there? the small and great must stand before God: your parents and friends, your brothers and sisters must be there. God forbid that I should be a witness against you at that day; however painful the thought may be to me now, yet it must be so, I must declare before all the world, before angels and men, that I have solemnly warned you of your danger. Your conscience tells you so at this moment: but at the day of judgment it will speak in a much louder voice, and in a more unwelcome strain. Prepare to meet your God!' -Flee from the wrath to come'-Jesus waits to receive you in his arms "And he can make a dying bed, Feel soft as downy pillows are." God is waiting to be gracious. Let me entreat you-let me beg of you-let me persuade you, to seek for pardon and a new heart. If you value your own souls; if you wish to be happy when you die; if you wish a crown of glory and eternal joy; think on what I have said; think on what you have now heard. 0 that you were wise, that you understood these things; O that you would consider your latter end.' 6. Adore the goodness and mercy of God, in sparing you another year. How has the year been spent? In what manner have the months, the weeks, and the days been employed? What have you been doing all your life time? "Can you give for every day, Some good account at last?" What do you think? are not some of you weary of attending to this disagreeable and mel ancholy subject? It is a serious thing to die, and very awful indeed if you are unprepared for death. "Oft as the bell, with solemn toll, "Only this frail and fleeting breath |