"mies. The Lord will ftrengthen him DISC.

upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt "make all his bed in his fickness." The fame gracious hand will conduct him, in perfect fafety, through the valley of the shadow of death, to that holy and heavenly hill, where he shall be hailed by the thoufands he has relieved, and see the face of that Redeemer, for whose fake he has relieved them.

XII.

DISCOURSE XIII.

CHARITY TO THE BRETHREN OF CHRIST.

MATT. XXV. 49.

And the King fhall answer and fay unto them, Verily, I fay unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the leaft of thefe my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Y

XIII.

ET once again, by the favour of DISC. the Almighty, we have lived to see the return of this holy feafon; again we are affembled in the house of God, to turn our thoughts towards the fecond Advent of our Lord. The church by her fervices on this day directs us to do fo, and we will obey her. In the portion of Scripture felected for the Gofpel, his appearance and

the

DISC. the forerunners of it are marked out for

XIII. our contemplation; figns above, and terrors beneath: the earth diftreffed and perplexed, the powers of heaven fhaken, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming-the trumpet founds through all the regions of the grave, "Arife, ye dead, and come to judgment:" the everlasting doors are unfolded: the King of glory, triumphant Meffiah, Lord of men and angels, appears in the refplendent robes of celestial majesty: the armies in heaven follow him, in proceffion, down to this lower world: the throne is fet; the books are opened: the dead are judged; and that fentence is paffed, from which there lies no appeal.

Is all this true? Moft affuredly it is. No person who hears me at this moment dares even to think it is not. A monitor within bears a faithful teftimony to what F fay, and will not fuffer infidelity or doubt to intrude.

And

XIII.

it all? As certainly as we are now met together in this place: no man or woman who ever has been, or ever will be born, can claim exemption" We must all ap

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pear before the judgment-feat of Chrift."

Some little degree of curiofity I should therefore hope may have been excited, to enquire into the grounds upon which will be paffed an irreversible sentence either to everlasting happiness, or everlasting misery: for there is no middle condition; of one or the other we must inevitably partake. The Scripture, from whence my text is taken, will afford us confiderable affiftance in the enquiry, and enable us to form fome fort of opinion beforehand, where our lot is likely to fall.

Our Lord, according to St. Matthew's account, being at the eve of his fufferings, the hiftory of which commences at the next (the xxvith) chapter, clofes his divine instructions to his difciples with a

reprefen