there would not be a doubting Christian, nor a doubting sinner on the face of the earth. When the tares and the wheat are ripe for the harvest, there will be no difficulty in distinguishing them one from another; so, when saints and sinners are ripe for God's harvest at the end of the world, there will not be a doubting saint or sinner. And it is in the view of God's harvest, that both saints and sinners can now best discover whether they are really for him or against him. Let them, then, only consider what he has plainly told them concerning his harvest at the end of the world, and what a separation he will make between the tares and the wheat, the sheep and the goats, and his faithful and unfaithful servants, and they can scarcely doubt whether God's harvest will be a day of the greatest joy, or of the deepest sorrow to them.

6. This subject calls upon you all to inquire, for what, and for whom, you have been laboring. There is no doubt but you have generally been industrious and laborious about something; but for what have you been laboring? Have you been laboring for the meat that perisheth, or for that which endureth unto eternal life? Have you been laboring to lay up treasures in heaven, or to lay up goods for many years, and to become great, and rich, and happy, in this present life only? Have you been laboring for God, or for yourselves? Have you been seeking his interest, or your own? Have you been workers together with him, or with his enemies? It is easy to answer these questions in the view of this subject. If you have approved of God's ultimate end in the creation, preservation, government and redemption of the world, which he has been pursuing, and which he will certainly accomplish at the end of it, and if you have been laboring to prepare yourselves and others for a state of perfection in knowledge, holiness and happiness, you have been laboring for God; if not, you have been idle and worse than idle all your days. God says of Israel, he "is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself." "Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts," to those who bring forth fruit unto themselves, "Consider your ways; ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it in a bag with holes." It seriously concerns

all to consider their ways, whether they have been laboring for God and laying up treasures in heaven, or whether they have been laboring for themselves, and are exposed to suffer an everlasting and irreparable loss.

Finally: If any are conscious to themselves that they have never been laboring for God, let them immediately devote themselves to his service. He has determined to carry into execution his eternal and ultimate end in the creation of the world, and to prepare all things for a rich and plentiful harvest. He has been laboring, his Son has been laboring, his Spirit has been laboring, his angels have been laboring, and multitudes of mankind have been laboring, for several thousand years, to bring millions and millions of rational and immortal creatures to the highest perfection in knowledge, holiness and happiness; and yet there remains a vast deal to be done, in order to bring about this most important and desirable event. And we have reason to think that God will still employ human as well as other subordinate agents, in preparing things for his rich harVest at the end of the world. Here then let me observe, that it will not interrupt any of your lawful business to enter into God's vineyard and labor for him. It will make all your labors more pleasant, more prosperous, and unspeakably more useful. It will entitle you to as large a portion of the knowledge, holiness and happiness of heaven, as you can desire, or possibly enjoy. Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with L.; for he shall eat the fruit of his doings." "And he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." But if you continue to neglect to serve God, he will bring his harvest to maturity, gather in his wheat, and separate the tares to unquenchable fire. "There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." "Who hath ears to hear let him hear.”

SERMON XIX.

DEPENDENCE ON GOD FOR LIFE.

PREACHED DECEMBER 31, 1826.

And the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified. Daniel 5: 23.

THE prophet Daniel was carried to Babylon early in life, and lived there during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar. He interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and instructed him in the true knowledge of the true God, which his son Belshazzar must have once known, but did not choose to remember. His father Nebuchadnezzar had publicly professed, in the most explicit and solemn language, his firm belief in the only living and true God. "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, and extol, and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those who walk in pride he is able to abase." Though Belshazzar had heard this solemn declaration of his father's faith in the being, perfections and government of the true God, yet he disre garded it, and stupidly bowed down to dumb idols, which could afford him no relief in a day of danger and distress. While he was feasting, and carousing, and worshipping his golden gods, in contempt of his creator and preserver, he saw the fingers of a man's hand, writing his fearful doom on the wall of his palace, which filled him with consternation and horror. He called for the astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers, to

read and explain the writing; but they could not read it, nor make known to the king the interpretation of it. This enhanced his anxiety and distress. But his queen soon relieved his mind, by advising him to send for Daniel, who had interprted his father's dream. He complied with her advice, and sent for Daniel. When he came, he first reminded the king Low the God of heaven had punished and humbled his father for his ambition and gross idolatry, and then reproves him for fwing his father's sins, and disregarding his awful fate. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thy heart, though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven, and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." Though Belshazzar was a heathen, yet he ought to have known and realized his absolute dependence upon God, in whom he lived, and moved, and had his being. And hence we may justly conclude, that all men ought to maintain a ralizing sense that God is the preserver of their lives. I sail,

I. Show that God is the preserver of their lives; and,
II. That they ought to realize it.

I. I am briefly to consider, that God is the preserver of the Lves of men. He is certainly the giver, and of consequence the preserver of life. We cannot conceive that God can give mankind independent life, any more than independent existc. Life is sustained and preserved by secondary causes; a. all the secondary causes of the preservation of life are

r the entire control of God, who can make them the ..s of destroying, as well as of preserving life. All the ments, the air, the earth, the water, and the fire, which serve to preserve life, may be and often are employed by God to d try it. It appears from the whole course of providence, Last Gol constantly carries the lives of all men in his hand. As truth is plainly and abundantly taught in Scripture. Gl is called the fountain of life." Job calls him "the rever of man." David says he is the preserver of man

and beast. Daniel tells Belshazzar, "the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." And Paul declares, that "God that made the world, and all things therein, giveth to all, life, and breath, and all things." The Bible everywhere confirms the declaration, that "in Him we live, and move, and have our being;" which implies that all mankind are constantly and entirely dependent upon God the giver and preserver of life. The preservation of life amounts to a constant creation, and is the effect of the unremitting power and goodness of God. I now proceed to show,

II. That men ought to maintain a realizing sense of this important truth. For,

1. They are all capable of realizing it. The horse and the mule, the crane and the swallow, and all the animal creation, are dependent upon God for life, and breath, and all things; but these mere animals are entirely destitute of capacity to know that God is their creator and preserver. This exempts them from all obligations to know and realize their entire and constant dependence upon their creator and preserver. But men are made wiser than the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven, and the inspiration of the Almighty has given them understanding, to trace their own existence, and the existence of all created natures up to the first and supreme cause. And though this first and supreme cause is invisible to their bodily eye, yet to the eye of their mind, "the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." So that they are without excuse, if they do not realize his being and supremacy, and their own absolute dependence upon him. Indeed, this is so easy, that children very early are capable of being made to know that God is the constant preserver of their lives. Those who have had the least instruction and lived in the greatest stupidity, can very easily realize their dependence upon God for the preservation of life in the hour of danger. The sailor, the soldier, the infidel, will instantaneously cry to God to preserve their lives, when death or imminent danger appears near. Persons of all ages and characters are daily manifesting by their conduct that they are very capable of knowing and realizing their absolute depen