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person thinks of the blessed sacrament, who never thought of it before, and is desirous of preparing his mind for it by prayer and a serious examination of his conscience, as the Church of England directs, in her exhortations to the people. That person I consider as a true penitent, who is forsaking his sins, and putting himself in a way of salvation; and I pray to God to help him forward and give him perseverance. But I have met with those, who seemed to have formed a good intention to do their duty, yet have put off the performance for the present, and said in their hearts, "Not this time; the next will do very well;" but, alas, before the next time came, I have seen them seized with sudden incapacity, and hurried without warning into their grave; where every farther opportunity was lost, and while their great account remained unsettled.

On the other hand, if I see a man, who from time to time can hear the exhortations, the solemn, and earnest, and affectionate exhortations of the Church, to bring the congregation to the holy communion, and pay no regard to them; I am sure that man does not repent; and I have all the reason in the world to fear and believe, that he never intends it. What is to become of him hereafter, when he shall make his appearance before the tribunal of Christ, we do not yet see: but I can tell you what generally comes of him here; (I say generally; for we must not presume to make a certain rule for the searcher of hearts to follow:) generally then it happens to such a person, that he dies as insensible as he lives; and when death gives him warning, that warning is not taken. He who has hardened his ears against the language of the Church, does at last not understand the language of death, though it speaks loud enough and plain enough for every body else to understand it. For it is the endeavour of Satan, after he has deceived a sinner all his life, to deceive him at his death, and make him as insensible of his bodily, as he has always been of his spiritual danger: so that when his neighbours and

friends see him sinking apace out of life, his head is filled with nothing but thoughts of this world: he is contriving how some business shall be done a month or a year hence, and perhaps at some greater distance. He determines in his sickness, what a man dare not determine in his health, if he has any wisdom about him. If it happens that he is aware of his ill state, then he is amused with hopes of recovery his old Enemy suggests to him, that he is not in such danger as people think him; that there is but a very little between him and health; and with these vain expectations he is buoyed up, till his last breath undeceives him. This is the common end of one who has hardened himself against the grace of God, and lived in the total neglect of repentance, or put it off to the time of his death: he and his intended repentance go on and on, from time to time, till they drop both together into another world, wherein there is no repentance.

If then, my brethren, the text assures every sinner, that he must either repent or perish; and if a careless life ends in an impenitent and hopeless death; my lesson after this may be short. If the sinner would try to be saved, he must try now; and he must be as quick as he can: he must flee from the wrath to come. He must be as much in haste, as he would be, if he were running with the family of Lot, and saw Sodom on fire behind him. For the same fire is now pursuing every sinner, whether he sees it or not; and unless the saving angels shall lead him by the hand to Zoar, it will certainly overtake him. There is no time for loitering: you must escape for your life with all speed, or be lost: Sodom was intended to shew you that; where one faithless soul, by loitering, was lost.

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Let no man therefore deceive himself with any vain expectation, that though he is not such as he could wish at present, he shall be so, at some future time: that if he is not prepared to meet his God now, he shall be so, before he dies. This is the delusion under which so many perish.

The broad way to hell is crowded with people, who intended to grow better, but never did. When once they have this habit of loitering, as they live, so they die: nothing makes any difference in them but death; AND THAT

MAKES A GREAT DIFFERENCE.

Now to God, &c.

SERMON XXII.

MEN OUGHT ALWAYS TO PRAY.-Luke xviii. 1.

HE man who does not pray, does not live; he may

THE

walk about, and seem to be alive, but he does not live, in the Christian sense of the word; for as the natural breath is a proof that the body is alive, so the breath of prayer is a proof that religion is alive in the heart. When the body ceases to breathe perceptibly, in that case its life becomes doubtful, and it may be actually dead: even so that faith, which does not breathe in prayer to God, may be dead past recovery; at least, there may be great danger that it will never come to a state of life and godliness, Many considerations naturally arise from this likeness between breath and prayer: for, is it easy to breathe? it must also be easy to pray. If the body be alive and well, it breathes of itself, without pain or difficulty; and prayer will in like manner be a thing of course, if faith be alive in the heart. Is it necessary to breathe? so necessary, that life cannot long continue without it? It is equally necessary to pray; for the spiritual life of the soul cannot possibly be preserved without it. There is something always at hand, which will never fail to destroy it; of this our Saviour gave notice on a certain occasion to his disciples: Pray, said he, that ye enter not into temptation. Temptation would destroy us all and, if we enter into it, we shall, without God's grace, fall under it. It was this, that first brought

death into the world; and is now the great danger of man. The first evil did not arise from man's own nature, but from the suggestion of the devil; who first taught man to disobey his Maker, and which it is ever at hand to teach the same lesson at this hour and his manner of teaching is different from what it was at first; he taught evil to our first parents by a speech from without; he now teaches from within us: he gets into our hearts and affections, and worketh in the children of disobedience; it is therefore a petition in the Lord's Prayer, that our heavenly Father would not lead us into temptation. This is one of the reasons why we ought to pray: if we would know them all, we must find them in the Lord's Prayer; because the petitions of it shew us what are the duties, the wants, and the dangers of man. They shew us, why we ought to pray; why we must pray; and what will certainly happen to us if we do not pray. They direct us to the first object of our thoughts; even to the great God that made us; the Father of our being, the Author of our faculties. He is the great object of our worship; and the man who is made by him, and does not worship him, differs in nothing from a beast, but in his ingratitude; the basest of all sins, and such as beasts are seldom guilty of: for the "ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib." Even the dog is mindful of him that feedeth him. What must the man be then, who makes no return of worship to God, who feedeth the creation? Can any man consider the greatness of his kingdom, without raising his voice, and lifting up his heart, to promote the glory and honour of it? Every Christian soul is a subject of that kingdom, which is over all; and when he knows what it is, the Lord's Prayer teaches him to pray, that it may prevail in himself and in all the world: that the will of God may be the rule of man; and may be done by men on earth, as we are sure it is done with readiness and delight by the angels of heaven. What a divine privilege is it, that the subjects of this great King are permitted to

speak to him! how much more, that they are invited and encouraged to it? and what shame and infamy to them if they do not speak to him! they that will not pray must have their portion with those beings, whose curse it is, that they cannot pray. With those that pray God is present: and if God be not with them, we know who will be so; and that they who live without God must die without him; and there is no more certain sign that they live without him, than that of their keeping up no intercourse with him by prayer. Hear the testimony of an illiterate savage on this subject, who had only the feeble rays of tradition for his guide.

Some English soldiers (as I heard once from an officer who had been amongst them) were quartered on a settlement in Africa, where the climate was hot and unwholesome: they had no clergyman, and they attended no place of worship. While they were in this situation, a fatal distemper broke out among them, and carried them off daily. A poor negro of the country, who was a witness to the case, made this observation upon it, "The English never speak to God Almighty; God Almighty never speaks to them: so the devil comes to fetch them away." Such was the language of this poor ignorant person; but simple and illiterate as the language may be, the observation is very alarming, and the doctrine is true: they who live without God must die without him. If a sheep be strayed in the night, and is met by a lion, we know what will become of it.

Man is therefore to pray; not only because he owes worship to the God who made him; but also, because he is a poor dependent creature; in daily want and danger, and must perish without the divine protection.

One of his first petitions to God, is for his daily bread; he must live by him; and therefore he prays to him. If a man can live of his own substance, he need not beg; but if he have nothing to support him, he must seek assistance from the charity of others. And he is not only ready to

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