The Christian, whose eyes are open to these things-to that heaven, that hell, that Savior, that Judge, that Judgment—all near, fast hastening on, if there be any life in him, will be moved to do something for his Lord. He will not, he cannot sleep, any more than he will be able literally to sleep, when all the dead are stirring in their graves. He will wake, and work, and he will pray God to bless his labor in the Lord.

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Christian hearer, try and bring these matters home to your own heart, your own case. In a little, you pass away and are here no more. Are work done?-done in your own ready? Is you soul? done in the field around you? so that the Lord will say to you, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Most blessed approval at such an hour, before such a presence. Most dreadful and crushing will be the reverse: some will hear, "Thou wicked and slothful servant." So live and labor, watch and pray, in the season of effort and prayer, that the welcome, and not the woe, shall be yours; then shall you be for ever with the Lord.

Unconverted hearer, you are not prepared; and yet you may be on the the brink of ruin. Have you thought of your situation, and of the scene you are to meet? Consider them now, wait not for a literal contact; wait not for the agitation and decay of a deathbed; wait not for the trump of judgment to stir your conscience and move your sensibilities. Ponder, till you feel the truth of that declaration, The end of all things is at hand. Though an old declaration; though it has been reiterated for centuries, uttered in ears that have long since mouldered, still it comes fresh and startling to you this day. It will come again. The end will be upon you sooner than you think. You may see it even now, speeding on like the heated courser; weeks, months, years, come and go; deaths, coffins, graves, crowd on the vision; an infinite stake hanging by a hair; the inexorable scythe swinging darkly across your path-how can you be so unconcerned? How can you sleep on, in such circumstances of immense and awful interest, and astounding peril? If persisted in, you are lost. Ere you are aware, will come the unwaking sleep of the shroud and sepulchre, and the soul, neglected, undone, will be driven down to the un; sleeping tortures the agonized, earthquake heavings of thsecond death. Fall not upon this doom, so dreadful; but turn ae once and avoid it, and seek that other destiny, listening to mercy'st call, and your soul shall live in heaven for ever.

SHORT SERMONS.

DANGER OF MAKING A PROFESSION OF RELIGION WITHOUT PIETY.

I never knew you.-MATTHEW 7:23.

A PURE church is not to be expected on earth. Even in the time of the Apostles, when those who received the keys of the kingdom of heaven from Christ himself, were ministers, persons obtained access to the communion table, and were admitted to sealing ordinances, who had not the love of God. We have reason to believe there will be always tares among the wheat; foolish will be found mingled with wise virgins; the vile will be gathered with the precious in the gospel net. Many, we are told, in the last day, will say, Lord, Lord, open to us, who will be met with this appalling answer, "I never knew you." From the description given of them, it is evident, professors of religion are intended.

My position is, that very few of those who are received among the visible followers of Christ without grace are ever brought to a knowledge of the truth. We read of hypocrites and false professors in scripture, but never of their conversion. I cannot conceive of a more perilous situation than that of one who has made a profession of religion unsupported by a good hope through grace, of one who, instead of making God his hope, makes hope his God. There is among all classes of thinking and conscientious persons, a well grounded apprehension of entering the Church without sufficient evidence of a spiritual, saving change.

I will point out some of the grounds of fear, that such persons will die in their sins. There is obviously a difference in point of danger, between those who are persuaded prematurely to assume so great a responsibility, through the injudicious solicitude of friends, and those who presumptuously or insincerely take the vows of God upon them. In both cases, however, the hazard is great.

1. There is a fancied security attending an enrolment of our names in the visible Church, which is greatly to be lamented and exceedingly dangerous. The pastor and Church have signified their approbation; and their acceptance has put to rest any previous fears, and for a time at least, quieted, if not removed, anxi

ety and doubt. How is the vain confidence and false peace of such professors to be shaken? Is vice attacked? The force of education, or the apathy of natural constitution, or respect for character, keeps them from vicious habits. Is hypocrisy exposed and denounced? They are not aware of an intention to deceive; or of any guilt contracted by the heartless performance of duty. Any attempt on the part of the preacher to fasten conviction on the conscience, to break up false hopes, or to produce deep and godly sorrow, proves abortive; the heart is protected by a shield which no weapon can penetrate, wrapt in a covering which no hand can remove. The Spirit of God which alone gives efficacy to any means, operates through the medium of truth; but by them the force of truth is evaded, and its direct application turned aside. The longer, therefore, self-delusion is practised, and the appeals and searching messages of the Gospel are resisted, the greater the danger that the Spirit will be grieved, and the individuals given up to obduracy and blindness.

2. Another source of fear, that those who are in the visible Church will never truly turn to God, is found in the alarming truth, that the perversion of serious and solemn things has a tendency to produce peculiar hardness of heart and searedness of conscience.

A professor of religion, to be at all consistent, to hold a respectable standing among his fellow Christians, must daily engage in the performance of many holy duties. He must use the language of prayer. He must worship where Gabriel bows. He must meet the eye of God. He must speak unto the great King. He must read his word; attend upon the sacraments, and become conversant with scenes of awful interest. All this will exert an ameliorating influence upon a sanctified heart, and produce the happiest impression upon a pious mind. But no such results will follow where all is carnal and dead. The spirituality and the interest of the duties serve only to increase the insensibility of the conscience, and the sacredness of the subjects discussed and listened to, destroys the excitability of moral feeling. By becoming familiar with awful truths and hypocritically going through with solemn duties, the tenderness and purity of the soul are sullied and lost; religion is reduced to a cold and spiritless set of forms and observ

ances.

3. Nor is this all. God is particularly offended with insincerity in the performance of religious duties. He, " abhors the sacrifice where not the heart is found." There are frequent and unequivocal indications in the Bible of his displeasure against hollowness in Christian profession. The religion of the Gospel is a spiritual religion. God is a spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth. He requireth truth in the inward parts. Where sincere and supreme love doth not reign, he will not accept

the offering. His eye penetrates every fold of insincerity that covers, every unreal appendage that sets off, the performance of duty. How great the hazard then of provoking him to say, as in the case of his ancient people, To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with it is iniquity, even in the solemn meeting: and when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers I will not hear. I will only add, in the conclusion, if there are any in the visible Church, in greater danger than others, they are those who are so little acquainted and impressed with the deceitfulness of the heart, and are so little alarmed at the idea of deception, as not to feel deep solicitude, and to institute the most faithful self-examination, and to endeavor, if possible, to gain some new evidence of a vital union to the Lord Jesus Christ.

HOW TO PRAY FOR A REVIVAL.

O Lord, revive thy work.-HABAKKUK 3:2.

The duty of Christians to pray for a revival of religion is plain, and enforced by the most affecting considerations. The inquiry arises, how should Christians thus pray.

1. Christians should offer prayer for a revival, feeling their entire dependence on the Lord for such an event. They should be deeply impressed with the truth that revivals are commenced and carried forward by the life-giving and constraining influences of the Holy Spirit. However essential in its proper place is human instrumentality, Christians must deeply feel that such instrumentality, or any other, is utterly insufficient of itself to produce or promote a revival of true religion. Such a work is to be accomplished, "Not by might" (or armies and human strength), “nor by power" (i. e., human)," but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Every Christian, in praying for a revival, should be deeply imbued with the spirit of the Psalmist, when he gave the following directions to himself: "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him."

2. They should feel that there is great need of a revival of the blessing for which they pray. If they do not feel thus, they will not be very earnest in prayer. A sense of need is what makes a beggar importunate. It is when Christians, in looking over the

community, see iniquity abound, God dishonored, religion languishing, and sinners perishing in their sins, that they feel the necessity of a revival, and will be likely to plead earnestly with God for it. This is what led the Psalmist to pray, "Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?" This is what pressed upon the mind of the prophet Habakkuk, when he offered that oft-repeated and appropriate prayer, “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known, in wrath remember mercy. ""

3. Prayer for a revival should be offered in faith. "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." "Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing that ye receive it, ye shall have it." An expectation of receiving what we pray for, manifests confidence in God, leads to perseverance, and is the ordained condition to which an answer is promised. Faith in the promise of Christ is what led the primitive disciples to persevere in their protracted prayer-meeting for ten days, before the Pentecost. If our divine Savior has assured us that our heavenly Father is more ready to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him, than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children, have not Christians solid ground on which to rest their faith, when praying for this same Spirit, who is the Author of all true revivals, that he may be sent to revive us again? When we know that a revival greatly promotes the glory of God, and of course is in accordance with his will; and when we remember his promises to answer prayer, there seems no excuse for not offering the prayer of faith for a revival.

4. Christians should pray for a revival with deep humility. A sense of unworthiness as sinners, and as Christians, should lead them to lie low in the dust before the throne of grace, when asking for a visitation of the Holy Spirit. "I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof," was the language of one who had great faith, and whose prayer was answered. The lower they sink in their own estimation, the higher will their prayers ascend for the Lord's blessings.

5. Prayer for a revival should be offered with a willingness to co-operate with God in promoting it. While Christians should feel the Holy Spirit is the only efficient agent in revivals, they should be willing and ready to labor as zealously and perseveringly in their advancement as though revivals were their own work, and they were to succeed just in proportion to their skill and energy in promoting them. If Christians would offer acceptable prayer for a revival, they must do what they can to promote it. And unless they are willing to do as well as pray, they may as well stop praying.

6. Christians should pray for a revival with importunity. Let them remember the parable of the widow and the unjust judge,