scarce a desire of salvation. Can you, then, when you are acquainted, that God has struck that soul with sickness, prefer, to a duty, so awful and interesting, both to him and yourself-an useless visit, or an idle conversation-a party at play, or a series of amusements? Must the extremity of sickness drag you by force, as it were, in spite of yourself, and oblige you to repair to the sick person, to whom, as I have already observed, your presence and the prayers you offer up, can be of no service? What can be the motive of a Minister in going, after the most unjustifiable delay, to a dying man? To inspire him with sentiments of grief for his past life? To exhort him to bring to remembrance the number, and the continuance of his sins? All, alas! is too late; and can a clergy man, in his conscience, believe himself clear from all accusation of neglect of duty, in the sight both of God and man, because he went, when he was sent for, to read over him the prayers of the Church, and administer to him, when his reason had almost forsaken him, the Sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord? Can he beseech God to send his holy angels to receive and defend that soul from all the invisible powers of darkness, and to supplicate these heavenly spirits to present it in the presence of God? What are they to present to this adorable Being ?—They are to offer to "the Great Preserver of men," a soul, of whom you, who was the Pastor, have become the cruel destroyer. What, then, can you expect, but that, like the servants, as related by our Saviour in the

parable, they should beseech the Lord of the Harvest, that he would suffer them "to go and gather up the tares" out of his divine field? That they should solicit him no longer to permit souls, created for the immortal society of saints and angels, to perish through the negligence of so indolent a Minister? I cannot describe the uneasiness I feel, when I hear of persons dying without any expressions of repentance, without their giving any reason to believe they have made their peace with God -especially, when the Minister has failed in his duty, which consisted in entreating them to call earnestly upon God, if haply he would answer.

As, however, it sometimes happens, that the most plausible excuses are offered by the Clergy, in their justification, I will add one other reflection, which may not be inapplicable to many who now hear me, and which may in a more especial manner, awaken in them an attention and solicitude, which are indispensable on their part, towards their sick parishioners. The discourses which you deliver, from the pulpit, are generally addressed to hearers in the full possession of health death, eternity, the future punishments to be inflicted on the impenitent, are subjects which health, spirits, the hope of long life, present to them, as at a distance, and which, in consequence, are cursorily noticed, or almost immediately forgotten: if they are affected at all, it is, ordinarily, with a slight and transient emotion, which, only for an instant, disturbs their peace, or awakens their ap

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prehensions. Melancholy experience, alas! often makes us mourn over the small advantage derived by our auditory from our exhortations, with whatever judgment they are adapted, and with whatever energy enforced; and we have the renewed sorrow of seeing many depart from the public worship of Almighty God, after hearing the most awful truths, and return, without compunction, to the commission of those very vices, which we had been endeavouring to convince them, would subject them to the wrath of God, and the punishment of the damned. But the instructions which we offer to a sinner, overwhelmed with infirmities, and menaced with death, are seldom delivered in vain he feels that the body, for which alone he had always lived in subjection to disorderly passions, is ready to fall into corruption; he anticipates death, eternity, hell, and all those torments of which he had always lost sight: the grand and awful truths of the Gospel, which had appeared to him no other than as phantoms, become real, and alight at once, if I may use the expression, on his affrighted soul; one single exhortation then, dictated by zeal, and accompanied with charity; one single reflection upon that forgetfulness of God, in which he has always lived, and upon the account he is going to give, is productive of the happiest effects: not one of your words then "returns unto you void;" his eyes open, his heart-hitherto engaged with the things of the world, which are, he sees, fleeting and evanescent-fixes on the only object which claims, or which deserves, his atter..

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tion; he deplores his error and his blindness; he acknowledges, with confusion, that God, alone, hath had no part in the several occupations which have filled the entire course of his life; he feels the whole unreasonableness, ingratitude, and enormity, of his sins, and the just punishment which, he believes, he cannot escape; you console and support him, with the hope of pardon, founded on the infinite value of the blood of Christ, and upon the inexhaustible mercy of God, who never rejects the sinner, when, with a sincere and penitent heart, he returns to "the Rock of his Salva"tion:" you have the satisfaction of being witness to his sorrow and lamentations, and of seeing the humiliation and remorse with which his heart is penetrated, painted on his dying features; and should the moment, which separates the soul from the body, arrive, how great is your consolation, in being able to say-Go, Christian soul, return into the bosom of God, from which you originally proceeded, and present, at his tribunal, your repentance, which will, we hope, be accepted by the Father of Mercies, and the God of all consolation*. Now, can a Pastor avoid being affected with such an awful sceneculated to alleviate the cares, and recompense the

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-a scene so cal

* This is a very dangerous doctrine. Let every Minister inculcate upon his hearers the great support derived from an exemplary life, from the conscientious discharge of the several duties of their station, rather than trust to the expectation of an holy death, the reality of which is, at the best, doubtful; and the effect uncertain.

troubles of the sacred ministry? Can a Pastor, by delays, deprive his sick parishioner-under any· pretence whatever-of the support which he so justly demands of him? Shall the rigour of the season, the badness of the road, the interruption of sleep, a slight indisposition, be alleged as excuses for protracting, to another time, the exercise of a function, when there is not a moment to lose? Such are the pretences by which Pastors, in other respects irreproachable, suffer themselves to be seduced. The rigors of the season ?-But would this prevent you, when expedition was required, from going to solicit a benefice, or take possession of a dignity? and do you thing diligence less necessary, when you are to go to assure your brother of a place in heaven, and of an hereditary title to an eternal kingdom? Did the Apostolical Ministers, whom we have succeeded, observe times and days, in going to the support of their brethren? They went," in fastings, in cold, and nakedness." The difficulty of the way? But the good Shepherd goes to seek his sheep across mountains, which can scarce be traversed; and shall the ways seem difficult to a Minister of the Gospel, who is going to shew to a soul the way to heaven ?The interruption of sleep? But, not to take from your indolence an hour sleep, do you not dread, lest, by your delays, you precipitate your brother into the eternal sleep of death ?—Lastly, a slight indisposition ?-But let us, my Brethren, often reflect, that Christ Jesus, in his last agonies, and under the utmost severity of torment, did not rc.