the most brilliant exploits which the world holds up to the admiration of its deluded followers.

In addition to the anguish which arises from the vanity of his past labours, he is agitated by the recollection of his former pleasures pleasures, which lasted only for a moment, and for which he has sacrificed his God and his All. Alas! he thought the term of life too long to be wholly devoted to the service of God: the series of years, which he supposed he had to live, appeared like an immense plain, over the whole of which he deliberately resolved not to carry his cross. He imagined that if he returned to God in the last stage of life, there could be no doubt of his finding a ready asylum in his bounty. He now sees with astonishment that the longest life is no more than an instant; that it is only one step, as it were, from the mother's

womb to the grave; and that, to devote any part of that short space to empty pleasures, is the height of folly.

This reflection is accompanied with the excruciating remembrance of his crimes, the guilt of which will adhere to him for ever. During the time of health he never took a serious review of his conscience: how matters stood between him and God was a subject that never occupied his attention. But now the dark abyss is enlightened. The weaknesses of youth, the licentiousness of manhood, the passions of more advanced age, all stare him in the face. Heaven and earth, says Job, conspire against him, and present before his distracted imagination the dreadful catalogue of his irregularities and crimes.

These are the tortures which the sinner endures from the recollection of the past what is present to him is not more consoling.

2. He had always flattered himself that the day of the Lord would not come upon him suddenly. But behold he is stretched upon the bed of death, charged with the enormous load of his sins; he is commanded to appear before the tribunal of God, and he has not begun his preparation.

What a surprise! He is at the point of death, and all is yet to be done, which he had purposed to do in the time of health. He endeavours to flatter himself with the hopes that death is not so near, and to sooth his mind with the vain determination of making his peace with God as soon as his disorder begins to abate. These hopes cause him to neglect even the last opportunity, and he is the victim of delusion even to the last moment. Yes, my God! the scriptures must be fulfilled. Thou hast said that the sinner should be surprised in his sins; and thy word will not fall away.

At length the moment arrives, and he can hope no longer. Now comes the final separation from every thing that was dear. The more closely he was attached to the world, to life, and to creatures, the more does he feel the 'smart.

He must bid adieu to his riches and property. They already begin to slip out of his hands. The heap melts before his eyes. He retains nothing but the fond love of them, the unwillingness to part with them, and the crimes which he committed in acquir ing them.

He must bid adieu to his beloved body, for whose gratification he has sacrificed his God, and his all.-He must bid adieu to his dear relatives, his wife, his children, his friends, whose lamentations harrow up his very soul.He must bid adieu to the world, which had been so much the object of his love.In a word,

he must bid adieu to all creatures. Every thing seems to vanish from his sight. He stretches out his hands to the objects around him, as if to implore their assistance: but in vain: they disappear like smoke.

Now it is that God appears great and mighty to the dying sinner. At this awful moment, when the whole creation is vanishing from his sight, that great Being alone,--the self-existent, the eternal Lord, who fills all things, and with whom there is no change nor shadow of alteration, presents himself before him. In the day of his strength, he had frequently asked, in a strain of irony and impiety, how it was possible to entertain an ardent love for God, whom he could not see, and not love creatures whom he saw, and whom he was so strongly induced, to love by nature itself? But now, he will behold only God: that which was invisible, will be the only