T The year is past; how has it been spent? To what purpose has it been applied? What account can we give of the talents committed to our charge? Have we improved our minds as we ought, in useful knowledge? have we strengthened them as we ought in the faith of the Gospel? What progress have we made in our duty to God or to man, in the course of the departed year? In what are we better this day, than we were this day twelvemonth? Have we prayed with more earnestness, have we attended the Holy Sacrament more frequently, have we thought more seriously of our latter end? Have we increased in our charities, have we become kinder neighbours, and better friends? What bad habit have we subdued, what Christian motive have we cultivated? In one word, are we progressive in faith, hope, and charity? for if we are not better in these respects, we are worse: our hearts are more hardened; our feelings more insensible.

The year is past, and we are now entering into another, of which who among us can be assured that he will be permitted to see the end? How many even among ourselves, who were present with us at the beginning of the past year, have been summoned before its conclusion, from life to death, from time to eternity. Let these things teach us "to know our end, and the

number of our days," how small it must be, how much smaller it may be. "The days of our years are but threescore years and ten," but how few, comparatively how very few, arrive at that period? How many are cut off from the land of the living, in the vigour of manhood, in the flower of their youth, in the pride of their strength? May we all, as we retire to "our chambers, and are still," consider how soon we also must pass away, and be gone; and how our years are bringing to end, " as it were a tale that is told!" And when we thus retire, may the Father of mercies influence those moments and those thoughts, on which perhaps our lot in eternity itself may depend! May he in whose hands are the issues of life and death, both teach us to know our end, and dispose our hearts to wisdom! May he give us grace, in entering upon a new year, to enter upon a new life, to reform what is amiss, to supply what is wanting, to perfect what is good! So that when our days shall have been numbered, and "our footsteps shall stumble on the dark mountains," we may look backward with joy, and forward with hope; and have "so passed through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal."

SERMON XXxv.

ISAIAH XXXviii. 1.

In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.

THERE is not perhaps any incident in Holy Writ which comes more home to the understanding and heart of all, than that which is recorded in the chapter before us. What happened to Hezekiah the monarch of Israel has happened to many among us, and may happen to many more. Neither riches nor poverty can ward off the pains of sickness, or the approach of death; both high and low are equally exposed to the danger, and are equally sensible of the deliverance. The meanest among us may find the circumstances of Hezekiah to be his own. Let us all then, as we listen to the eventful narrative, make the application either by experience or by anticipation to ourselves.

The history is a very simple one-"Hezekiah was sick unto death." The Almighty however, who

rarely strikes without a warning, sent the prophet Isaiah, who spake to him in the words of the Lord." Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live." Under the ancient covenant God was pleased to maintain an immediate communication with his people: under the Gospel the warning is more general, but not less impressive. The most careless and hardened among us must own that he has had warnings in awful abundance. The Redeemer has told us that "he cometh suddenly, at an hour when we know not," and does not the experience of every day teach how true are his words, and how merciful is his warning! The fearful accidents, the sudden deaths of those around, speak to our hearts and consciences in the words of the prophet, "Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live." Though days and years pass without the infliction of the blow, we know that it is still suspended over us, and that it soon must fall. Yet still we "walk on in darkness, seeing, we see and do not perceive; hearing, we hear and we will not understand." The oftener our warnings are repeated, the more we disregard them; we listen not to the call of daily experience which teaches us, that the next awful visitation may be our own, we turn a deaf ear to the Gospel which calls aloud, "Be "Be ye also ready." It is true that we may have long escaped, but are we therefore

to disregard repeated warnings? This is to tempt the long suffering of God, and to make his very mercies an excuse for neglect. "To day then if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts," for to day, does the Almighty warn every one of us in the history of the Jewish monarch, "Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live," and this night, remember, the event may follow.

Hezekiah did not disregard the warning, but he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord. Happy it was for him, that he was able to pray. Many are there who in the hour of sickness and of danger cannot pray; because, in the day of health and strength, they have neglected their God, they fear to approach him when their spirits sink and their strength faileth. He therefore that desires to be enabled to pray when he is sick, let him learn to pray when he is in health. He that habituates himself to prayer as a duty in the time of prosperity, will find it a support, a consolation, and a joy in the time of need.

The substance of the prayer which Hezekiah made is well worthy of our attention. "Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight."

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