trine of immortality! The vanity of the present life, is the proof of the life which is to come. is our first conclusion. This 2. The second conclusion we deduce is this: neither the good things, nor the evil, of a life which passes away with so much rapidity, ought to make a very deep impression on a soul whose duration is eternal. Do not tax me of extravagance. I have no intention to preach a hyperbolical morality. I do not mean to maintain such a wild position as this, "That there is no reality in either the enjoyments or the distresses of life: that there is a mixture in every human condition, which reduces all to equality that the man who sits at a plentiful table is not a whit happier than the man who begs his bread." This is not our gospel. Temporal evils are unquestionably real. Were this life of very long duration, I would deem the condition of the rich man incomparably preferable to that of the poor; that of the man who commands, to that of him who obeys; that of one who enjoys perfect health, to that of one who is stretched on a bed of languishing. But however real the enjoyments and the distresses of life may be in themselves, their transient duration invalidates that reality. You, who have passed thirty years in affliction! there, are thirty years of painful existence vanished away. You, whose woes have been lengthened out to forty years! There, are forty years of a life of sorrow vanished away. And you who, for these thirty, forty, fifty years past, have been living at ease, and drowned in pleasure! What is become of those years? The time which both the one and the other has yet to live, is scarcely worth the reckoning, and is flying away with the same rapidity. If the brevity of life does not render all conditions equal, it fills up, at least, the greatest part of that abyss which cupidity had placed between them. Let us reform our ideas: let us correct our style: do not let us call a man happy because he is in health: do not let us call a sick man miserable: let us not call that absolute felicity, which is only borrowed, transitory, ready to flee away with life itself. Immortal beings ought to make immortality the standard by which to regulate their ideas of happiness and misery. Neither the good things, nor the evil, of a life so transient, ought to make a very deep impression on a soul whose duration is eternal. This was our second conclusion. 3. But if I be immortal, what have I to do among the dying? If I be destined to a never ending duration, wherefore am I doomed to drag out a miserable life upon the earth? If the blessings and the miseries of this life are so disproportionate to my natural greatness, wherefore have they been given to me? Wherefore does the Creator take a kind of pleasure in laying snares for my innocence, in presenting to me delights which may become the source of everlasting misery; and by conducting me to eternal felicity, through the sacrifice of every present comfort? This difficulty, my brethren, this pressing difficulty, leads us to, A third conclusion: this life is a season of probation, assigned to us for the purpose of making our choice between everlasting happiness or misery. This life, considered as it is in itself, is an object of contempt. We may say of it, with the sacred writers,t hat it is a shadow that passeth away; a vanity, which has nothing real or solid; a flower which fadeth; grass which withereth and is cut down; a vapor which dissolves into air; a dream which leaves no trace after the sleep is gone; a thought which presents itself to the mind, but abideth not; an apparition, a nothing before God. But when we contemplate this life, in its relation to the great end which God proposes to himfelf, in bestowing it upon us, let us form exalted ideas of it. Let us carefully compute all its subdivisions; let us husband, with scrupulous attention, all the instants of it, even the most minute and imperceptible; let us regret the precious moments which we have irrecoverably lost. For this shadow which passeth, this vanity which has nothing real and solid, this flower which fadeth, this grass which is cut down and withereth, this vapor which melteth into air, this forgotten dream, this transient thought, this apparition destitute of body and substance, this nothing, this span of life, so vile and contemptible, is time which we must redeem, Eph. v. 16. a time of visitation which we must know, Luke xix. 44: a time accepted, a day of salvation which we must improve, 2 Cor. vi. 2; a period of forbearance, and long-suff ring, which we must embrace, Rom. ii. 4. a time beyond which there shall be time no longer, Rev. x. 6. because after life is finished, tears are unavailing, sighs are impotent, prayers are disregarded, and repentance is ineffectual. We proceed to deduce a 4. Fourth conclusion: a life through which more time has been devoted to the present world, than to preparation for eternity, corresponds not to the views which the Creator proposed to himself, when he placed us in this economy of expectation. We were placed in this state of probation, not to sleep, to eat, and to drink; we were placed here to prepare for eternity; if at least, we have not adapted these functions to the leading object of eternity; if we have not been governed by that maxim of St. Paul, 1 Cor. x. 31: Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God, we certainly have not conformed to the ideas which the Creator proposed to himself, in placing us under this economy of expectation and trial. We were placed in this state of probation, not merely to labor for the provision and establishment of our families; we were placed here to prepare for eternity. If, therefore, we have devoted more of our time and attention to the provision and establishment of our families, than to preparation for eternity; if, at least, we have not adapted, to the leading object of eternity, our solicitude and exertions in behalf of our families, we certainly have not conformed to the views which the Creator proposed to himself, in placing us under this economy of expectation and trial. We were placed in this state of probation, not merely to govern states, to cultivate arts and sciences; we are placed here to prepare for eternity. If, therefore, we have not directed all our anxieties and exertions, on such subjects as these, to the leading object of eternity, we certainly have not conformed to the views which the Creator proposed to himself, in placing us under this economy of expectation and trial. Imagine not that we shall be judged according to the ideas which we ourselves are pleased to form of our vocation. We are under an economy of expectation and trial: time, then, is given us, that we may prepare for eternity. A life, therefore, through which more time and attention have been devoted to the pursuits of this world, than to preparation for eternity, corresponds not to the views which the Creator proposed to himself, when he placed us under this economy of expectation and trial. This is our fourth conclusion. 5. We go on to deduce a fifth a sinner who has not conformed to the views which God proposed to himself, in placing him under an economy of discipline and probation, ought to pour out his soul in thanksgiving, that God is graciously pleased still to lengthen it out. Let each of you who, on taking a review of his own life, must bear the dreadful testimony against himself, that he has most miserably deviated from the views of his Creator, present to God, this day, a heart overflowing with gratitude, that this tremendous sentence has not yet been pronounced against him: give an account of thy stewardship, Luke xvi. 2. It is for this that life ought to be prized as infinitely dear; for this we have unspeakable cause to rejoice, that we still behold the light of this day. "I have been in the world these thirty, forty, threescore years; and ever since I arrived at the exercise of reason, and felt the power of conscience, I have enjoyed every advantage toward attaining the knowledge, and exhibiting the practice of religion. Every display of mercy, and every token of fatherly displeasure, have been employed to reclaim me. Not a book written to convince the understanding, but what has been put into my hands; not a sermon calculated to move and to melt the heart, but what has been addressed to my ears. My corruption has proved too powerful for them all. My life has been a tissue, if not of enormous crimes, at least of dissipation and thoughtlessness. If at any time I have shaken off my habits of listlessness and inaction, it was, usually, only to run into excesses, which have already precipitated so many precious souls into hell. When visited with sickness, when death seemed to stare me in the face, I seemed to behold, collected into one fatal moment, all the sins of my life, and all the dreadful punishments which they deserve. I |