they feel if they considered that very many times, he whom they are seeing this day, they shall see again no more for ever: that the very temper and qualities which fill them with pleasure, as an earnest of their child's worldly welfare, are in fact most to be lamented, as likely to bring about his everlasting ruin. I will mention yet a third instance. We are all taught not to speak evil of one another, not to say any thing that may hurt our neighbour's character, and so either injure his interests, or give pain to his feelings. The rules of courtesy in society carry these points to a very great length; and it is very properly thought rude to say any thing that may needlessly even awaken unpleasant recollections in the mind of any one present, and much more, that may be likely to give offence. Yet many things which courtesy does not forbid, would be forborne by those who were as fearful of hurting their neighbour's everlasting interest, as of giving him a momentary pain, or inflicting on him a worldly inconvenience. How many a compliment would be repressed, as tending to encourage a vanity and self-satisfaction, that were too great already; how many a hasty speech would be silenced, by which unchristian opinions, or an unchristian temper, may be thoughtlessly encouraged;

how many a false compliance of words and manner would be restrained, by which a good man sometimes, from an excessive fear of giving offence, allows the worldly and unprincipled to imagine that their estimate of life is the same with his own! There is still one more case, which must not indeed be spoken of with harshness, yet in which we should do well to be careful of ourselves, and to suspect a little the natural leaning of our own feelings. Many persons who watch and govern their own conduct according to the highest principles of duty, who are active and unceasing in their own labours, are sometimes too much influenced by their human affection for others, and do not always encourage their friends so firmly as they should do, to tread the path on which Christ would lead them. There are those, who, if consulted in a case of practice by any dear friend, would for him, much more than for themselves, think of what would most gratify his present wishes, and would try to spare him the pain of present disappointment. There are those also, who would be too soon alarmed for the health, and strength, and comforts, of those whom they love; who would urge their friend to spare himself, to take care of his health, to give himself indulgencies of one kind

or other, which they would not, in the like circumstances, consent to accept themselves. Of course, to be too unfeeling and hard in our expectations of others, is a much worse fault; and, it is a duty, as well as a pleasure, to be careful of the temporal as well as of the eternal welfare of those who are dear to us. All would be right, if we kept steadily before our eyes the time that comes after death-the time when we shall live with our friends for ever, or shall see them again no more. We should then, indeed, be careful of our neighbour's health and comfort; we should say to him, "Do not do too much;" but we should also feel, and say too sometimes, "that he must not do too little." We must not, even out of love, make his path smoother than Christ has chosen to make it. We must cheer him to fight the good fight, even as we would wish ourselves to be cheered to it by him. Amongst soldiers, when fatigue and sufferings are pressing upon them, he is a true friend who tries by every sacrifice on his own part, to lessen the burdens of his weaker comrade: but if he sees his spirit yielding too much, so that he is in danger of losing himself by some act of weakness, then he rouses and encourages him to bear up bravely, and to remember his honour and his

duty. Let us set the same predominant value on our friend's eternal glory, that a brave soldier would set upon the military honour of a dear comrade; and we too should see how to hold the middle course, neither being insensible to his earthly welfare and our own, nor yet forgetting that our mutual well-being, after death, concerns us both still more nearly.

But, my brethren, we are apt to deceive ourselves too often with regard to our friend's everlasting prospects; and this self-deceit arises, I fear, many times from the want of a sufficiently lively interest in the things of another world. I have felt on many occasions a very great and painful concern, to hear persons speaking of the state of their deceased relations as undoubtedly happy, to hear them talk of being united to them again for ever, when the lives of both had been and were such as would oblige an impartial man to regard their future condition with more of awe than of hope. Then, indeed, at the actual moment of sorrow, one cannot cruelly tear away the greatest consolation which grief possesses; and besides, when the grave has once closed upon a relation or friend, fears and anxiety about his everlasting state would be mere hopeless misery to the survivor, and most unavailing to benefit the dead. But while we

and our relations are yet alive, I wish that we would bear steadily in our minds the only true foundation on which the hope of our eternal happiness can rest; that we would open our eyes to the exceeding vanity of those false assurances with which almost all persons comfort themselves after they have lost their relations as if, indeed, every soul that was taken away from this world would be presented spotless before God, through the blood of the Lamb. Alas, my brethren, it is not because we love our friends here, that we can hope to love and live with them hereafter. In Heaven they neither marry nor are given in marriage; that is, the ties of human relationship do not subsist there; for, if they did, we should feel the absence of those who were not in Heaven n; and though Christian parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, will love one another more than they ever did on earth, yet they will love each other as the fellow-servants of God,—they will be all one with each other as members of Christ's body, of his glorious Church, the communion of saints, of the spirits of just men made perfect. It is very strongly and justly said by Doddridge, in that excellent work of his, "The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul," that at the