thee

Amen, the Faithful and True Witness. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot! So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew out of mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing. And knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."

my

Can language furnish a more fearful testimony, against that cool, careless, indifferent temper, in which so many are content to live; in which so many are called off to die; in which so many presumptuously hope they may be saved? But, let them not deceive themselves. "These things saith the Faithful and True Witness." That witness, before whom the most cool, the most careless, the most indifferent, must hereafter stand and tremble. And who can fathom the depth of that wonderful expression,—“ I would thou wert cold or hot!" Does it not appear to intimate, that it may be

more tolerable in the day of judgment, for open profligacy, or even for total unbelief, than for a formal, drowsy, halfhearted Christianity? And, that they who be drunken, are in less extreme hazard than they who sleep?

But granting, for a moment, the extreme and untenable position, that exemption from gross sin, may be pleaded as a title to eternal life, this concession could by no means secure the salvation of a lukewarm Christian. Such a person is exempt from disreputable vices, more by habit than from principle; more from constitution, education, or external circumstances, than from any perennial fountain of goodness in his own bosom. How then shall he stand in the hour of temptation? Habit, without choice, is but a poor preservative. Constitution may alter; education may be forgotten; external circumstances may undergo a total revolution. Where, then, shall he find a power of resistance? The negative virtue, of the negative Christian, cannot be relied upon

beyond the present moment, because it is impossible to foretell what incitements may be furnished, by the moment that succeeds. And when once the bounds of habitual mediocrity are transgressed, that very coldness, which before was a preservative from vice, will become a bar against recovery. Far other energy is indispensable in the process of repentance. An energy of character, which no sleeper ever yet possessed. An energy of the Holy Spirit, which no lukewarm Christian ever can implore. For prayer to be effectual, prayer to be real, prayer to be prayer at all, must be fervent, energetic, and flowing from the fulness of the heart.

Search then, my brethren, your own hearts. What is your Christianity? Is it a living, affectionate, active principle? Or is it a lifeless, uninteresting, inoperative theory? What are its fruits? A knowledge of God's law, a performance of God's will, a delight in God's presence, and a desire of God's everlasting kingdom? Or must you confess yourselves, like the

great mass of mankind, ignorant of the Scriptures, negligent of the commandments, lovers of trifling pleasures, devoted to this present world? Remember, if you sleep now, you sleep in the day; in the midst of pure sunshine, in the blaze of unspeakable light. In vain hath the dayspring from on high visited those, who choose to sit in darkness, and the shadow of death. Yet not in vain. For it will increase their misery and condemnation, "For this is the condemnation," saith our blessed Lord, "that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than the light." In the night of Heathenism, indeed, there was a shadow of excuse, for slumbering and sleeping. But we profess and call ourselves Christians. We claim to be children of the light, and of the day. And, if we sleep; that is, if we are lifeless, careless, inactive, in the midst of motives, examples, and influences, which might animate the dead, then truly, our criminality will be emblazoned, by the sun-shine that every

where surrounds us; and to us above the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, the terrors of the last day will be heightened, in proportion to the multitude of convictions stifled, and opportunities abused.

But, my brethren, God forbid, that this be our choice, and this our portion! To sleep in the day, were unmanly in the literal sense; it ere to close our eyes on the best natural gifts of our Maker. But, in the spiritual sense, it would be a relinquishment of all spiritual feeling; a hatred of that light, which shineth into every heart that will receive it. Therefore, as

we would be men, as we would be Christians, as we would rise, and not sink, in the scale of our immortal being, let us walk as children of the light, and children of the day. Let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch, and be sober. Let us not quench that aspiration after moral improvement, which God, at the first, implanted in our nature; and which his good Spirit delighteth to rekindle, and to cherish, till it become a bright and unex→