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

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mánly fortitude, if the mind shrink from so common, so expected an -66 event. Nor faith, nor hope, confirm any presage of a future state; to eat, to drink, for to-morrow we die,” is the language which a life of impiety can best comprehend. Whether these opinions will sustain such a mind at the last awful hour! whether the pleasures of sense will prove consolatory in a last vain and mournful retrospect! the deathbed of many a misguided being can most satisfactorily answer.

The gay and inconsiderate man, who, perhaps, does acknowledge some points of Religion, yet fears to "become al"together a Christian," lest his conscience and the pleasures of the world should be at variance, runs his full career in the journey of life, a useless and inconsistent being, and sinks into the grave totally unprepared for that awful account which will prove to be too faithful

a record of the vices and follies of his life.

The man of morality, of more settled habits, of a graver cast of character, who considers rectitude of conduct of indispensable importance for the general good of society, tenacious that his own, example should not disgrace his pro-: fessions, accustomed to the power of command; saying to one, "Come, and "he cometh; and to another, Go, and "he goeth;" either from the multi-, plicity of his avocations, or from a dread

of the period when he shall be eternally separated from all his worldly possessions, consoles himself with the hope, that he may yet have many years before him, and thinks, that to embitter the present moment by a continual reflec-. tion of futurity, can neither be con-: sistent with reason, nor required by the Almighty; nay, he sometimes admits the possibility, that another state of existence

may prove to be only an illusive idea, politically to encourage weak and credulous minds in religious faith, and to pursue the paths of honesty and virtue. It is true, he is occasionally warned of the uncertainty of life by the death of a friend or relative; even the funeral obsequies of a stranger may excite a momentary serious reflection, but high health, unbroken spirits, and a prosperous fortune, soon put to flight every contemplative thought, and the ambitious pursuit, or the convivial board again interest his mind and fascinate his senses. The last hour of this man may also read a lesson more salutary than precept, for his life may appear as the vapour of a moment, and suddenly vanish away, and we shall exclaim with: the Psalmist; "I went by, and lo, he

was gone; I sought his place, but it "could no where be found."

There are few exempted from an ha

bitual carelessness on the subject of the uncertainty of life, notwithstanding the variety of instances which experience and observation might adduce. How often has youth, blooming and admired, just opening to all the gay prospects of an enchanting world, been snatched suddenly away from this terrestrial state of existence! the dance, the song, the circle of dissipation having unexpectedly preceded the chamber of sickness and the bed of death! the graceful form, flattered and admired by all, confined within the narrow limits of the tomb, where distinction is no more; the friend and the enemy, the beggar and the king quietly reposing, and contention and pre-eminence alike disregarded and forgotten. These reflections are not meant to sadden the heart with vain disquietude and gloom; to unfit us for the duties, or the rational enjoyments of life, but to lead us to a due consideration of their un+