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LECTURE XII.

A WORD IN SEASON; OR, DEATH AND JUDGMENT.

REV. xx. 12.-And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God.

THIS is a prophetic vision of a most solemn and interesting scene, which we must all behold. Yes, our eyes shall see the dead, small and great, stand before God at the last day. This is a very serious and important subject: one in which you are all concerned. Hear for once as if you were to die, for die you must, though when you cannot tell. This is a changing world. Death makes a great change in every respect; but especially in the state of the soul; and remember, that every one of you may soon have to undergo this change. The time will come when it will be said of you, as it was of David's child, "He is dead." It is possible that you may die before to-morrow morning. In the midst of life we are in death. Do you think of this as you ought? Death is called the king of terrors, and the way to his palace is paved with human skulls. Death is awful to all; but it is terrible indeed to those who die in sin. Ah! my dear young friends, could tears prevail on you to forsake sin and love Christ, to fear the Lord and prepare for death, they would not be wanting. Tears have been shed, and may be shed again, over the hardness and wickedness of your hearts. And these hearts must be changed, or you can never enter heaven. There is a real certainty of your going to hell if you die in enmity and rebellion against God, The child who is well

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to-day, may be dead to-morrow. "There is a time to be born, and a time to die." The day of our birth, and the day of our death, are two very important periods of time. You are now in health; but pain and sickness may soon deprive you of that valuable blessing. Death and judgment are subjects which are not agreeable to those who are young in years. They put far away the evil day, and cannot bear to think of dying. But the young as well as the old must die and by far the greatest part of mankind die while they are young. It is but a few that live to old age; and then they often complain that their "days are labour and sorrow." You now appear like flowers in the garden in full bloom; but your strength may soon wither away. Your beauty may soon decay, and you may soon fall like grass beneath the hand of the mower. You may now be the object of delight and admiration to your affectionate friends; but man cometh up like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. Your days are determined, and the number of your months are with God. It is he who has appointed the bounds of human life, and over them you cannot pass. It is appointed unto all once to die.

The subject of this Lecture is serious and awful; big with the most important consequences, not only to the children now present, but to all the children in the world. Oh! my soul, how many are now walking through the dark valley of the shadow of death, and plunging into an unknown and untried eternity! What shall I say to make you attentive? Will you hear me, or shall I leave off? Love to your immortal souls tells me to go on, to cry aloud, and spare not, to warn you all of death and judgment; to remind, to assure, to convince you that the dead, small and great, must stand before God.

It is a serious thing to die. No one can say, that they have nothing to do with death and judgment; that it is not necessary to give themselves any concern about these solemn and certain events. Your bodies must return to the dust from whence they were taken, and your spirits to that God who created them. O thou eternal Spirit of the living God, soften every hard heart, impress every thoughtless, careless, and unthinking child! Grant that all who are now present, may die unto sin and live unto righteousness.

Stoop down my thoughts, that use to rise,
Converse awhile with death;

Think how a gasping mortal lics,

And pants away his breath.

His quivering lips hang feebly down,
His pulses faint and few;

Then speechless! with a doleful groan,
He bids the world adieu !

But, Oh! the soul that never dies!
At once it leaves the clay;

Ye thoughts, pursue it where it flies,
And track its wond'rous way.
Up to the courts where angels dwell,
It mounts triumphing there;
Or devils plunge it down to hell,
In infinite despair.-Watts.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stund before God.

I. I saw the dead.

Did you ever see a dead body? I you have, what do you think of the sight? Is it not an awful sight? Ah! my dear young friends, you must all experience what it is to die. You and I must die, and so must all the world. Think what it is to be sick and ill, to be in violent pain, or to have a burning fever; but what are the pains of sickness, when compared with the pains of death, the solemn transactions of the day of judgment, and the miseries of hell for ever! What is death? What is it to die? Suppose you were now standing by the death-bed of one who was about to leave this world for ever; and to see the fatal dart lifted up! The arm of death is very strong, none can resist him; even Samson submitted to the powerful stroke of death.

Behold the approach of death! Your brother or your sister, your companion, the friend of your youth, must bid a long and sad farewell to all around him, his lips pale and quivering, his eyes dim, his cheeks covered with the paleness of death, his hands and feet bedewed with a cold sweat, his breath growing shorter and shorter, and his pulse beating slow and feeble. At last, with a painful struggle, and perhaps a groan that makes the hardest heart to feel, he resigns his spirit to the Judge of all.

At death your warm and vigorous body will be cold and stiff. Your hands will handle no more; your feet will cease to walk; your eyes will be closed in death, and your tongue will be silent: your pulse will no longer beat; your blood will no more flow through the different veins; your heart will no longer throb within your bosom: the shroud, the last dress that you will ever wear, will then be put on; the coffin be brought, and your body be laid in the grave. You will then be carried to your long home, and left in the house appointed for all living, to be food for worms, to mingle with

the dust that covers you, and there to remain to the morning of the last day, when the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.

Death 'tis a melancholy day

To those who have no God:
When the poor soul is forced away
To seek her last abode.-Watts.

At death, your plans and schemes must all be laid aside. All your joys and pleasures in the present world be over. You must leave all your friends, all your companions, all your toys and your books behind you. You will join in no more amusements on earth. You will hear no more sermons. You will learn no more hymns. You will read no more chapters, repeat no more lessons, write no more copies, and do no more sums. Your places at home, at school, and in the house of God, will be resigned to others.

But your souls will never die? They will live for ever? If you have paid a visit to the church-yard, or the burial ground, you have read on the monuments of the dead, "Here lieth the body of such a person.* But where is the soul? Oh think of this, whenever you think of death?

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Children, improve the hours you have,
Before the day of grace is fled;

There's no repentance in the grave;

No pardons offer'd to the dead.-Watts.

What is it that makes you so much afraid to die? Sin is the cause of all your fear. Yes, it is the cause of your death also; "for by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Death is the punishment of sin: God told our first parents Adam and Eve, that in the day they eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they should surely die. By this threatening we are not to understand that they did actually die that day; but their bodies began to decay, and from that hour, they felt evident signs of approaching death. Can you think of any thing that will save you from death? Riches will not save you. The rich man died and was buried. If you had all the riches in the world, you could not bribe death to spare your life; no, not even for one short hour. You could not tempt him with your thousands of silver and gold to spare you for a few moments longer. All your prayers and entreaties would have no effect upon this king of terrors. A mountain of gold is of great value: but many rich persons, when they come to die, would gladly give the golden

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