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Sermon Occasioned by the Death of Mrs.
Miriam Phillips...
C'^mbridge, 182*^.

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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of
Edith and Maude Wetmore
in memory of their father
George Peabody Wetmore
B.A. 1867

SERMON

OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH

MRS. MIRIAM PHILLIPS,

CONSORT OF

HIS HONOR WILLIAM PHILLIPS,

DELIVERED
ON THE 18TH OF MAT,
BEING THE SABBATH AFTER THE FUNERAL.

BY BENJAMIN B. ))^ISNER,
PASTOK OF THE OLD SOUTH CHUKCH IN BOSTON.

CAMBRIDGE :
PRINTED BY HILLIARD AND METCALE,
1823.

SERMON.

Psalm xxxvii, 37.
stark the perfect man ! and behold the upright ! for the
end of that man is peace.
The primary design of this passage was to lead
us to a correct estimate of the dispensations of God
towards the righteous and the wicked. It also
furnishes us the most desirable consolation in the
death of the truly pious ; assuring us that, what
ever may have been their lot in the present life,
and however acute their sufferings at the approach
and in the hour of dissolution, they are now at
peace. The instruction which it communicates, is
then, you at once perceive, peculiarly appropriate
to the present occasion. A much respected and
numerous family — most of them members of this
religious society, their venerable head the senior
officer of this church — with a large circle of friends,
and of brethren and sisters in Christ, have recently

been called to mourn. By this afflicting dispensa
tion, God has spoken to each one of us in the voice
of warning. That voice it is our duty to regard,
our interest to obey. That I may be instrumental
in administering consolation to the afflicted and
instruction to the warned, I propose — in coinci
dence with the scheme of thought suggested by the
text — to consider in the present discourse,
I, The character, and
II. The end of the righteous.
" Mark the perfect man ! and behold the up
right ! for the end of that man is peace."
I. The terms ' perfect' and ' upright' art not to
be considered as indicating distinct and different
traits of character, but — in accordance with a mode
of speech very common among the Hebrews — as
a repetition of the same thought in different but
synonymous language, for the purpose of explica
tion or of exciting attention, " Mark the perfect
man ! behold the upright !" Either of these epi
thets may therefore be taken as fully expressing
the character which the writer intended to exhibit.
What then are we to understand by a perfect
man .'' In what sense do the Scriptures ascribe
perfection to men in the present state ?
It is not intended, when the Holy Spirit applies
this epithet to the pious, that they have from the

commencement of their moral agency perfectly
obeyed the law of God. This is evident from the
fact, that these same Scriptures assert, with the
utmost explicitness, that " all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God." " The whole world is
guilty before God."
Neither are we to understand by the applica
tion of this epithet to the pious, that they have all
or any of them, in the present life, been completely
recovered from the sinfulness of their natural state.
The law and the gospel, addressing us as ac
countable agents, possessing full capacity to perform
our duty, do indeed require us to be " perfect as
our Father in heaven is perfect;" that is, to be
completely holy. They can require nothing less
than this ; unless God will surrender the claims of
his moral government, and give us the liberty of
obeying him just as far as we please, or rather of
not obeying him at all. "With God," we should
do well to remember, " there is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning." His law is perfectly
" holy, just, and good." Its demands will neither
be dispensed with, nor mitigated. " It is easier for
heaven and earth to pass, than for one tittle of the
law to fail." It is therefore the unquestionable
duty of every man to " love the Lord his God with
all his heart," and render him the uninterrupted
service of all his powers.

But the question before us does not respect the
duty, but the actual character of men. How is the
fact ? Do men ever, in this life, attain to sinless
perfection — to perfect and entire conformity in
heart and life to the requirements of the divine law ?
This question has been answered by the Holy
Ghost, who affirms, that " there is not a just man
upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not." In
exact coincidence with this statement, we find, in
perusing the history of those who are denominated
' perfect' by the sacred writers, that not one of them
was entirely free from sin.* And, in every age of
the world, it has been a distinguishing characteris
tic of the pious, that they constantly felt and deeply
lamented the existence and influence of " a law
in their members warring against the law of their
mind :" and the greater their attainments in piety,
the more humble have they been under a sense of
their deficiencies, and the more abundant their
confessions of remaining imperfection. The Apostle
John does indeed say, that " whosoever is born of
God sinneth not." But he certainly did not mean
that every or any Christian is perfectly holy ; for in
the same Epistle he affirms, that "if we say we have
*See Gen. -ri, 9, compared with ix, 20, 21. Job i, 1, 8, compared
¦vvitti ix, 20. 2 Chron. xv, 17, compared with xvi, 1 — 10. 2 Kings
XX, 3, compared with v, 12 — 19. Jas. iii, 2, second clause, compared
with the first clause of the verse.

no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in
us." He simply meant that those who are born of the
Spirit do not sin habitually.* Of the fact then, that
none of the people of God do actually attain, in
this life, to sinless perfection, there can be no
reasonable doubt. And hence it is evident, that this
is not the perfection ascribed to the pious in the
Scriptures. In what sense then does the Bible pronounce
real Christians to be perfect ?
In at least one instance, the word seems to be
used to express that perfection of righteousness
which the believer has in Christ for his justification
before God. " Whom," says the Apostle to the
Colossians, " we preach ; warning every man,
and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we
may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."
Generally, however, the term is used with
reference, not to the state of the believing sinner as
justified before God, but to his character as renew-
* " So," says Dr. McKnight, " should the clause be translated : for the
verb in the Greek denotes continued action. Hence it is applied to a
tree's producing fruit. Mat. iii, 8, 10, and to a fountain's sending forth
water continually, Jas. iii, 12. The meaning therefore is, he doth not
work sin as one worketh in a trade or occupation." The expression is
the very same as was used by our Lord when he said, " W^hosoever
committeth sin is the servant of sin," John viii, 34 ; and by this same
Apostle when he affirms^ that " He that committeth sin is of the Devil."
1 John iii, 8.

8
ed into the image of Christ. And its meaning is,
that those, to whom it is applied, sincerely de
sign AND HABITUALLY ENDEAVOUR TO OBEY THE
WHOLE LAW OF GOD ; — are continually striving to
attain " to the measure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ." Thus it is explained by St. Paul in
his Epistle to the Philippians. " Brethren," says
he, " I count not myself to have apprehended : but
this one thing I do ; forgetting those things which
are behind, and reaching forth unto those things
which are before, I press toward the mark, for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus
minded." He did not pretend to have attained to
complete and unsullied holiness. But he was con
tinually pressing toward this mark. He was there
fore to be numbered with those who, in the gospel
sense, are perfect.
This perfection belongs to every real Christian :
or rather, to all who have evidence of being such.
They desire to be completely holy. This desire
has formed itself into a settled purpose to pursue,
and this purpose produces a constant and vigorous
endeavour to attain, its object. The perfect and
upright man indulges in no known sin ; he is
watchful over every remaining propensity to sin ;
diligent in the cultivation of all the graces of the

9
Spirit ; and strives to be faithful in the performance
of every known duty. His obedience, though not
complete and uninterrupted, is, in its principle, uni
versal. 1. Having been "bought with" an inestimable
" price," he aims to " glorify God in his body and
in his spirit, which are God's."
He " suffers not sin to reign in his mortal body,
that he should obey it in the lusts thereof;" but
endeavours to "yield every member an instrument
of righteousness unto God."
Equally, and even more, solicitous is he respecting
the frame of his spirit ; striving to have " every
thought" and feeling " brought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ." The heart is the life and
soul of all evangelical obedience. To this there
fore, God in his commands, and the saint in his
endeavours, have a principal regard. Constant
watchful n(!ss over the state of his heart is one of
the distinctive traits in the character of the real
Christian. The hypocrite is seeking " the praise
of men ;" and hence his chief attention is directed
to his outward conduct. But the believer seeks the
approbation of God ; who, he remembers, " looketh
on the heart." This fountain of life he therefore
endeavours to " keep with all diligence." This is
indeed a secret and noiseless, but it is a great and
2

10
difficult work : — a work which frequently causes
him who is engaged in it to " know a bitterness,
which none beside can know ; and which often
produces a " joy with which a stranger intermed-
dleth not." The Christian regards all his mental
endowments, as well as his property and his bodily
powers, as talents committed to him by his Lord :
and he endeavours to consecrate them to the glory
of the giver. " This sacred employment," says
one, " engages his every faculty : furnishes his in
vention with a pleasing labour, renews his memory
to a sweet recollection, exercises his judgment in
pious deliberation, and kindles his affections into a
holy rapture."
Thus he strives to be " wholly sanctified, in
spirit and soul and body ;" — to " present him
self a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto
God." 2. The obedience of the perfect man is also uni
versal as to its object. He aims at conformity to
the whole will of God. His duties to his fellow-
men he learns, not from the maxims and customs of
the world, but from the unerring standard of divine
revelation ; and endeavours faithfully to perform
them from a supreme regard to the will of his
Maker, who has commanded him to "love his
neighbour as himself." The moralist of this world

11
overlooks his relations to the moral Governor of the
universe, and attends only to those duties which in
terest and public opinion have derived from the re
lations of society. But the Christian regards it as
' the first and great commandment, to love the Lord
his God with all his heart ;" and, like his Saviour,
esteems persevering impenitence and unbelief as
more aggravated sins than the immoralities of Tyre
and Sidon, or the licentiousness of Sodom and Go
morrah.* In a word, he feels that every thought
and affection, every word and deed, is a subject of
the divine requirement ; and goes to make up his
character in the sight of God. He therefore " sets
the Lord always before him." His controlling
reflection, in society and in solitude, " in the house
and by the way," is, " Thou, God, seest me !"
And " whether he eats, or drinks, or whatsoever
he does," he strives to " do all to the glory of
God." Such is the character of the perfect and upright
man. He is renewed after the image of the Holy
One; and walks in " the path of the just, which,
like the dawning light, shineth more and more unto
the perfect day."
II. We come now, in the second place, to con
template the end of the perfect man. " The end
of that man is peace."
* See Mat. xi. 20 — 24. and Luke x. 13 — 15,

12
We are not to infer, from this mode of expres
sion, that the believer finds no enjoyment in religion
till the close of life, " The ways of wisdom are
pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." What
ever be the outward circumstances of the righteous
man, when his faith is in exercise, a sacred tran
quillity, even amidst the severest trials, possesses
and cheers his soul : " in believing" he always finds
"joy and peace." His spiritual vision, however,
is sometimes obscured ; faith frequently falters, and
perhaps, for a season, nearly fails : so that his re
ligious enjoyments are often interrupted, and sel
dom unmixed with sorrow. But at death he shall
attain to perfect peace. Not that unmingled sereni
ty and joy are invariably the attendants of a be
liever's dying hour. He may be cut down by a
mysterious providence without an intimation of his
approaching change. He may be stupified by dis
ease, or racked with pain, or deprived of reason.
Yea, even the pious, and the eminently pious, may
die, and in some instances have died, in great de
jection of mind, and in fearful anxiety respecting
their future destiny. The tempter may be permit
ted to assail them, and urge his onsets with re
doubled fury, " because he knoweth that he hath
but a short time." That face which was hid from
their Lord in this trying hour may also be hid from

13
them. But we are not, on this account, to doubt
whether their end was glorious. The sun which
has rolled through the heavens in brightest splen
dour, may meet a cloud in the horizon, and set
with eclipsed beams. Such instances, however, are
rare. And were they more frequent, they would
furnish no valid objection to the truth of the posi
tion, in reference to every believer, that " the end
of that man is peace."
1. Every real Christian is in a state of peace
and reconciliation with God. Sin has made a fear
ful controversy between God and man. It has
placed us in the attitude of rebels against the divine
government ; and God in that of an offended Sove
reign, who must, if he regards his own glory and
the welfare of his kingdom, manifest his displeasure
against our sins. " The carnal mind is enmity
against God ; it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be." " They that are in the
flesh cannot please God." He " is angry with the
wicked every day." This, the Scriptures assure
us, is the condition, (whether he knows it or not,)
of every unregenerate sinner. This will be the un
changing condition of all who die impenitent, who
will then realize it in all its horrors. But in every
believer this enmity has been slain. He is recon
ciled to his Sovereign, and his Sovereign is recon-

14
ciled to him. Every one that believeth, the Scrip
tures inform us, is juitifi^ before God : and " being
justified by faith, y*Ky4jMJne peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ." Whatever be his present
situation, — whether rejoicing in the light of the Di
vine countenance, or mourning the hiding of his
Father's face, and dreading an eternal banishment
from his blissful presence, — Jehovah is his friend,
and has pledged every attribute that supports his
throne to give him the victory over all his enemies,
and confer upon him the crown of life ; to make
his very " afflictions, which are but for a moment,
work for him a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory."
2. The dying Christian often enjoys a sense of
his peace with God. When, with intellect un
clouded, and faith unwavering, he meets the king
of terrors, he meets him with composure, if not with
triumph. Death is, to him, a vanquished enemy :
for " the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin
is the law ;" but, for him, the Saviour has answered
the demands of the law, and thus broken the strength
of sin and extracted the sting of death, — " God
hath given him the victory through Jesus Christ
his Lord." " Looking unto Jesus, the Author and
Finisher of his faith," he receives the fulfilment of
that gracious promise, " When thou passest through

15
the waters, I will be with thee ; and through th6
rivers, they shall not overflow thee : when thou
walkest through the fire,- thou- shalt not be burnt,
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." His sins
have indeed been numerous and highly aggravated,
— he feels that they are so : but his faith rests upon
" the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of
the world." He is sensible that his " righteous
nesses are as filthy rags :" but he expects to stand
before his Judge in the white and perfect robe of
"the righteousness, which is of God through the faith
of Christ." He is conscious of much remaining
depravity, — that he is far from being meet for the
society and employments of heaven : but he knows
that his Saviour will complete the work of purification
where it is begun, and " present" them that love
him " faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy." With such views and feelings the
soul must be at peace, " My confidence," said a
dying saint to him who now addresses you, " my
confidence is in Christ ; he will not disappoint my
hope. My situation in life has been every thing
that I could desire. My worldly prospects, should
I live, are unclouded. I love my husband and my
children ; I delight in contributing to their comfort.
But 1 can leave them. 1 commit them to my cove
nant God. I desire to depart and be with Christ,

16
Then I shall be free from sin, and never, never
more dishonour my Saviour. O the happiness of
being completely holy ! of being near and like my
God !" Death was rapidly disenthralling her from
her tabernacle of clay. Her tranquil eye grew dim :
her trembling lip was colourless. In accents scarce
ly audible, she whispered, " Lord Jesus, receive
my"  -. And, before she had completed the prayer,
her petition was granted, and her soul at rest in the
embrace of her Lord,
3. Believers, after death, go into perfect and
everlasting peace. " The end of those," saith
the Scripture, " who have their fruit unto holiness,
is everlasting life." Could we but follow the de
parted spirit, as it wings its way from " the valley of
the shadow of death" to the realms of perfect and
unchanging light, oh ! how rapturous the glories
that would burst upon our view ! Think of the
dazzling, the unfading splendours of that crown of
righteousness which is immediately put upon his
head ! — the transports of the full vision of Christ,
sitting " at the right hand of power," and smiling
welcome to this trophy of his victorious grace ! —
the unutterable joy of beholding and admiring the
glory of God, as it beams in infinite splendour from
the midst of his throne ! Now the soul, the im
mortal soul, is SATISFIED. There it is at peace

17
from the risings and the conflicts of inward corrup
tion, and shall never again complain of that " body
of death," which has hitherto marred its spiritual
enjoyment: — it is at peace from the assauhs of
temptation ; for there is no serpent in the heavenly
paradise, no forbidden tree in that garden of unfail
ing delight : — it is at peace from affliction and trou
ble ; for " sorrow and sighing have fled away," the
hand of God " hath wiped all tears from" its rap
tured " eye," There every power finds complete
and unceasing enjoyment, — the soul is filled with
unmingled and ever increasing satisfaction in ad
miring the character and celebrating the praises of
a reigning and redeeming God,
But who can describe the future happiness of
those " that die in the Lord .?" " Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart
of man the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him." They have perfect and uninter
rupted peace in the bosom of God.
Such is the end of " the perfect and upright ;"
and such we believe was the end of that servant of
Christ whose loss we are called to mourn. We be
lieve it, because we have evidence that she possess
ed the character we have described : and God hath
said that " the end" of such an one " is peace,"
3

18
Blessed with pious and faithful parents, she
was, from a child, instructed in the things of God,
and always felt the highest respect for vital reli
gion.* The happy and triumphant death of her
mother — a lady of devoted and exemplary piety —
appears to have been the means employed by the
Holy Spirit to bring her to the saving knowledge
of Christ. She made a public profession of her
faith, and was admitted to the communion of this
Church when about twenty years of age ;t and,
during half a century, was enabled to give evidence
of the reality of her piety by a life and conversa
tion becoming the gospel.
Her mental endowments were of a superior
order. Though lively and ardent in her disposi
tion, she was distinguished by soundness of judg
ment and firmness of purpose. Her religious
opinions she did not receive upon trust : she studied
the Scriptures herself, with diligence, candor, and
prayer. The result was a deep and growing
conviction of the truth of the religious sentiments
in which she had been educated. She adopted
*Mrs. Phillips was born June 16,1754, N. S. Her father, Hon.
Jonathan Mason, (who was born May 16th, 1725, O. S. died May Sth,
1798,) was for many years a Deacon of the Old South Church in Boston.
She was married on the 13th of Sept. 1774, to His Honor William
Phillips, the present senior Deacon of the Old South Church.
t On the 19th of June 1774.

19
'oved that system of faith which numbers
among us fundamental doctrines the essential
Divinity of the Saviour, the entire depravity of
human nature, justification by faith alone through
the merits of Christ, and renovation and sancti
fication by the sovereign agency of the Holy
Spirit. Her belief of these doctrines was constant
ly strengthened by her observation of mankind,
increasing knowledge of her own heart, and daily
experience of their efficacy in producing peace of
mind and holiness of life. She felt that it was safe
to stake upon their truth her everlasting all. They
were not with her, as with too many, mere specu
lative opinions, but settled and active practical
principles. All who were favoured with hearing
her religious conversation and her prayers, know
how elevated were her views of the divine purity,
how deep her sense of her own sinfulness, how
entire and confiding her dependence on the merits
and grace of her Redeemer. Her life was truly a
life of prayer. She delighted in retirement, and in
the social devotions of that band of holy women
with whom she was associated, many of whom
had gone before, and others are following her to
glory. The sabbath and the services of the sanc
tuary were her delight. Often have I heard her
dwell with holy gratitude upon the privileges and

30
benefits, and lament with holy solicitude the prof
anations, of this sacred day.
The practical influence of her religion was not,
however, confined to the closet and the circle of
intimate friendship ; it was seen in every depart
ment of life. The duties of her domestic and
social relations she discharged, with affectionate
fidelity, from a supreme regard to the will of God ;
striving in all things to glorify his name. Her
friendships were sincere, and faithful, and abiding.
She was ever ready to counsel and advise her
friends with christian kindness and judgment.
When satisfied that it was her duty to administer
reproof, she did it, with promptness and fidelity,
but with tenderness and affection. When she had
ascertained her duty on any subject, she was not
to be deterred from performing it by an apprehen
sion of unpleasant consequences. Duty she felt
was hers ; consequences she could leave with
God. While she maintained the honors of the
station in which Providence had placed her, with a
dignity that commanded universal respect, and
regarded the forms of society with becoming at
tention, she felt the increased obligation imposed
on her by her situation in life to " let her light shine
before men," and to employ her influence and her
substance in doing good. Her charities are known

21
to have been great : but their amount will not be
known till the day of final account. Many are
the sons and daughters of affliction that have been
comforted and relieved by her bounties, who are
still ignorant of the hand that bestowed them.
But her benevolence was too pure to spend
itself in merely contributing pecuniary aid for the
relief of the wretched. She was a ready visitor
to the sick and the unfortunate ; and well did she
know how to pour into the wounded spirit the oil
of consolation, and direct the eye of faith to the
merciful hand that was administering the correction.
The humble poor she delighted to visit, and relieve,
and bless.
She rejoiced in the rising prospects of Zion ;
and was particularly and deeply interested in the
present attention to religion in this and some other
congregations in the city. She dwelt much, when
conversing on this subject, on the importance of
PROFESSORS HONORING THEIR RELIGION at SUch a
time, that their prayers might not be hindered, and
that the world might see that there was indeed a
revival of the work of God,
In short, it was her ardent desire and her
constant aim to " adorn the doctrine of God her
Saviour in all things :" — " to have always a con
science void of offence toward God and toward

22
men." She deeply felt and often inculcated the
importance of a holy life,- "We must live
RELIGION," she would frequently say, " or we can
have no evidence that our faith is genuine, nor
leave behind us any satisfactory proof that we
have died in the Lord."
Such was her life. Who then can question ? —
none, I am confident, who knew her will doubt —
that in the eye of heaven, she was numbered
among "the perfect and upright;" and that her
end was ^' peace."
The disease, with which she was afflicted, was
of such a nature that it produced a constant heavi
ness and stupor : so that very little escaped her,
during her illness, respecting her views and feelings
in relation to her approaching change. There is
evidence, however, that she supposed death to be
near, and that she anticipated its arrival with pious
resignation and hope. In the morning of the day
on which she died, she said, with difficulty, to one
of the family who had just come in and asked her
if she knew her — " It is a great thing to die," It
was replied — " Yes ; but you have chosen Jesus
for your portion, and he will sustain," Her
countenance indicated her assent to this remark ;
while, with great difficulty, she uttered the word
" ROCK :" meaning, no doubt " He is my rock,"

23
an allusion she frequently employed in religious
Conversation with much feeling. This was the
last word she uttered. And what could she have
said more satisfactory ? Her life proved that she
had built upon the rock Christ Jesus ; and, we are
permitted to know, that at the approach of death,
she felt that her foundation could not be moved.
From the time just alluded to, she rapidly
failed ; till, at half past three o'clock on Wednesday
the 7th inst. her spirit was released from its earthly
tabernacle, and entered upon the rest and peace that
remain for the people of God,
Her mourning family have sustained a great —
an irreparable loss. But their loss has been her
unspeakable gain. It may, — if rightly improved,
it will — prove their gain. Better consolation in
the death of a friend could not be enjoyed. Our
confidence is that she lived the life, and therefore
died the death of the perfect and upright, and is
now enjoying her eternal reward. May you, my
bereaved and afflicted friends, be sustained and
comforted in your trial by the promises and grace of
that covenant in which she trusted, and found to be
" ordered in all things and sure." May her affec
tionate and faithful counsels be engraven on your
hearts : her bright and steady example copied out,
in all the harmony and beauty of its proportions,

24
in your lives : that, like her's, your memory may
be blessed, and your reward eternal in the heavens!
This Church has lost one of its brighest orna
ments, — this religious society one of its firmest and
most devoted friends, "A mother in our Israel
has fallen; or rather, I should say, has risen;
borne, not in a chariot of fire, but on seraph's
wings, to the mansions prepared for her in the
skies. But where, O ! where, is her falling man
tle ? God, of his mercy, grant that it may fall and
rest upon each of us !"* — that this mournful provi
dence may excite us to follow the example of our
departed friend, as far as she followed Christ, and
to live, as we trust she lived, to the glory of God.
To every person in this assembly God has
addressed a solemn warning. Who is there here
that does not wish to die as we believe Mrs,
Phillips died .'' You must then live as she lived.
You must repent of your sins and believe in Christ
with that faith which works by love, purifies the
heart, and overcomes the world. And He, in whose
hand your breath is, tells you, in language not to
be misunderstood, that if you ever intend to make
preparation for death, you must make it now. With
in one week four have been summoned from this
Congregation to the eternal world : two with a
* Sermon on the death of Mrs. Waters, by ^ev. Joshua Huntington,

25
warning of but three days, and two without a
moment's warning. Fellow-sinner, why were not
you of this number ? Had you been, what would
now be your condition ? Is it not possible that
the angel of death is commissioned to bear the
next summons to you ? Are you then prepared to
die ? What if " the trump of God" were now to
sound, " the elements to melt with fervent heat,
and the dead, small and great, to stand before
God !" — What if these dread realities were this
moment to burst upon you ! What, O ye who
are yet in your sins, would be the sentence you
would receive from the lips of the Judge ? What
could it be but — " Depart into everlasting fire .?"
And how soon, how very soon, may all this be
reality to you ? Disease or accident, in any of
their thousand forms, may, in a moment, arrest
your thoughtless career ; and your destiny is fixed
forever, you have entered upon the retributions of
eternity! My dear hearers, be not deceived. It
is true that " now is your accepted time and your
day of salvation," — the only opportunity, of which
you can be sure, for obtaining the salvation of those
precious and immortal souls. See to it then that
you be prepared immediately to meet your God,
" To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your
hearts."

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