come, if it lead to an abode of glory? How can we see near us, without delight, the door which opens into the company of angels, into the presence of our Saviour Christ? But will it indeed so open unto us? And shall we indeed at death thus enter into heaven? This, my brethren, is the very question I would have each now ask himself. Not an hour have you to lose in answering it. Not an hour, though you were each sure of living to grow old. Not an hour, when you know not what an hour may bring forth.

The prevalence of a pestilence alters not the condition of our trial, only it makes more uncertain than ever the length of time to which it may last. Heaven and hell have been all our lives long set before us. Only now we may be brought perhaps, by God's good grace, to think of them more seriously; to feel in a more lively manner that we are hastening either to the one or to the other. Now therefore the Christian minister would desire affectionately to remind his flock of the great joy of a Chris-tian death.

See then wherein that joy consists. First, it consists in this, that we lose nothing by the change. We cease indeed to breathe. The heart no longer beats. The blood no longer flows. But we still feel, still think, still love, and are beloved. We behold no longer with the eye of flesh the friends whom we have loved on earth. Yet if we part from them, it is but for a brief season. And we are sure that in a state where no one thing is wanting we shall meet all whom we there could love. Secondly, be- ' sides losing nothing, we gain every thing. We gain our own soul; which then at length after its many perils is safe in the haven of eternal rest. We gain treasure which neither rust nor moths corrupt, and which thieves do not break through and steal. (See Matth. 6. 19.) For that treasure is the presence of God, the light of his countenance, the constant sense of his abiding love, the sharing with Christ in those good things which no words can describe, no heart conceive. Thus might we feel no fear of death. Thus even in its more near approach might we rejoice, in the Lord, alway.

God grant, my brethren, that such joy may be ours. God grant, that however soon He call us hence, we may be glad to hear his voice. Ready to part as for a short absence from the friends we leave on earth, and eager to behold, that we may love for ever, that friend who is in heaven above, our Saviour Jesus Christ.

SERMON VI.

LAODICEA LUKEWARM.

REV. 3. 14, 15, 16.

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

THE book of Revelations is in some parts not yet to be understood by any one; and in most parts it is not intelligible to the unlearned. Yet there are in it many passages, especially near the beginning, which are within the comprehension of every Christian reader. The first three chapters in particular, which were addressed to seven churches then flourishing in Asia, contain rules for their

direction, threats for their warning, and promises for their encouragement, which we may most usefully apply to our own edification.

The first charge which is here brought against the church of Laodicea is well worthy of our serious attention. Somewhat we may observe in the solemnity of the manner in which it is introduced. "Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans," that is, unto the bishop of the church, unto the church itself, "write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." (ver. 14.) Here we see who it was that enjoined these things to be written. For we learn from the first chapter, that the faithful witness is Jesus Christ; and that the whole book is "the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass." (Rev. 1. 1, 2.) It is then no less than Christ, the Judge Himself, who warns in these words not that church only, but the lukewarm in every age and country, "I know thy works, that thou art