the world and its concerns, and enters into the holy of holies, to hold immediate intercourse with the Father of spirits, and to address him in the solemn language of faith and adoration, of contrition and penitence, of confidence and resignation, of gratitude and praise.

And in this awful and sublime employment prepare thyself, O thou pious worshipper of the Most High, to meet thy God, that so thou mayest not offend the great object of thy worship, nor injure thy own mind by inconsideration and carelessness, and by a want of that profound reverence, of that sacred awe, with which a creature ought to be penetrated, when addressing himself to his adorable Creator; and which is indispensably necessary to the acceptableness of religious worship to the Being to whom it is offered; as well as to the production of any good effect upon the mind of the worshipper himself.

Prepare, therefore, to meet thy God in solitude. When you are about to engage in the duties of the closet, recollect your

self, compose your thoughts to seriousness and reverence, impress upon your mind an affecting sense of the majesty and excellence of the Supreme Being; recollect, that though no human eye is upon you, the eye of God is witness to your most secret thoughts, and presume not to trifle in his sacred presence.

Let me indulge the hope, that the family altar is not altogether deserted. Prepare, therefore, to meet thy God in the exercises of family worship; let them, however brief they may be, for this circumstance must depend upon the exigences of particular cases, yet let them always be conducted with decorum, with gravity, with sincerity, with affection; and suffer not the duties of piety to degenerate into an unmeaning form.

The returns of the stated exercises of public worship are rare, in comparison with what was usual in the primitive age of the church, and in comparison with what is even necessary to keep alive the spirit and the habit of social religion. But the more rarely these opportunities occur, the more

necessary it is that we should attend upon them with due seriousness and preparation, not as an unmeaning form, not as an irksome task, not as a decent compliance with fashion and custom, but with clear conviction of the reasonableness and importance of this great duty, and as desirous to exhibit to a thoughtless world, our public and fearless profession of faith in God and his government; to confirm our pious and devout affections; and to, combine them with that ardent, diffusive, active benevolence, without which, all pretensions to piety are hypocritical and vain.

Thirdly; prepare to meet thy God at death.

We often meet our God in the dispen sations of his providence, and in the ordinances of his worship. And these are sometimes very solemn meetings. But to meet him in death will be more solemn still, and requires the most solicitous preparation. And in death, it may justly be said, that we meet our God; for it is, like all other events, under his immediate direction and

control. It is also productive of the most serious consequences: it closes the state of probation, and fixes a permanent seal upon the character. 66 He that is unjust, will be unjust still, and he that is holy, must be holy still."

The exhortations in the text, therefore, addresses itself with peculiar propriety to every individual, in reference to this important event. Prepare to meet thy God at a dying hour. Thou shalt meet him then in a way in which thou hast never met him before; place thyself, therefore, in a proper posture for the awful interview.

Reconcile yourself to the thought of dying. Subdue, as far as possible, the natural dread of dissolution. Prepare to meet, with manly firmness, and with Christian fortitude, an evil, which no anxiety on your part can avert or mitigate.

Remember, that in death you meet your God. He will accompany you in your passage through the dark valley; and will stand by you when all other friends forsake you. Recollect that death is an event un

der the immediate direction of his wise and good providence; and that it shall not arrive a moment sooner than he hath himself appointed; nor shall its terrors be aggravated by a single pang which he does not permit and restrain. Place your confidence in God.

Live in habitual expectation of this great change. Not that it is necessary or desirable to be always brooding over the thought of death. But remember that you are mortal. And let the habitual recollection of the end of your journey keep you in the right way, and restrain you from wandering into forbidden paths. And so think of death, that whensoever the awful summons shall arrive, it may create no surprise, and may neither be unexpected nor unwelcome.

Carefully avoid whatever would make a death-bed terrible; a guilty conscience will plant thorns upon a dying pillow. Live so that you may not be afraid to die. Keep your heart right in the sight of God. If you thus God prepare to meet your