REFLECTIONS, &c. ON THE UNCERTAINTY OF LIFE. "For what is your life? It is even as a vapour, "that appeareth for a little while, and then "vanisheth away *.” WHAT is your life? is an important question to every created being; and convinced as we must all feel of the uncertainty of our present existence, taught by precept, and warned by example, that no worldly prosperity can award "the thousand ills that flesh is "heir to;" that the strength of man, however invulnerable it may appear, * James iv. part of ver. 14. B must be eventually subdued by the power of death! why is the subject so little considered? or, if it be considered, why does it lead to gloomy sentiments or unnecessary apprehensions? thereby embittering every blessing which an indulgent Creator has bestowed. It must have been observed, that men too frequently run into such contrary extremes on this solemn and important subject; that they either seem to live as presumptuous and independent beings, or are so much deceived by superstition and bigotry, that their judgment is perverted, their mental faculties contracted; and instead of becoming useful and virtuous members of society, they exist, the self-created victims of misapprehension and error, diametrically opposite to that glorious character, which the precepts and example of our divine Master are best calculated to form. The surest antidote against all dangerous extremes on the subject of religion, is not only to "search the Scriptures," but to form our conduct on their plain and unerring rules," Laying aside all strange and "divers doctrines," we shall be convinced that the Christian Religion is the promoter of peace on earth, and of happiness hereafter! And every good and well-regulated mind will pronounce that God was the divine original, even were there no other evidences of its truth than the excellency of its doctrines, and the sublimity of its precepts. Various are the causes and feelings which prevent a due preparation for death: the irreligious man dreads to investigate the truths he practically denies, and too frequently ridicules the faith of others, as the result of a weak and timorous mind. He will say, "It is as "natural to die as it is to be born, and "cowardice must have annihilated all must be eventually subdued by the power of death! why is the subject so little considered? or, if it be considered, why does it lead to gloomy sentiments or unnecessary apprehensions? thereby embittering every blessing which an indulgent Creator has bestowed. It must have been observed, that men too frequently run into such contrary extremes on this solemn and important subject; that they either seem to live as presumptuous and independent beings, or are so much deceived by superstition and bigotry, that their judgment is perverted, their mental faculties contracted; and instead of becoming useful and virtuous members of society, they exist, the self-created victims of misapprehension and error, diametrically opposite to that glorious character, which the precepts and example of our divine Master are best calculated to form. The surest antidote against all dangerous extremes on |