1 Thess. v. 1 — 8. Of the times and the seaso?is, brethren, ye have no need that I ivrite unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon
a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day : we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others ; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night ; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breast-plate of faith and love ; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
ON an occasion like the present, when God is so loudly speaking to us by his providence, I am anxious that his voice, and his alone, should be heard amongst us : for as, on the one hand, it would be peculiarly difficult so to speak, as to cut off all occasion for misconception, so, on the other hand, filled as your minds are with holy fear and reverence, it will be far more grateful to you to sit, as it were, at the feet of Jesus, and to hear what the Lord God himself shall say concerning youa. Methinks, in the spirit of your minds you are all, even this whole congregation, like Cornelius and his company, saying, et Now are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God :" yes, I would hope that each individual is now in the posture of Samuel, " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." To meet these devout wishes in a suitable manner, I have chosen a portion of Scripture, which contains all that the occasion calls for, and bears the impress of Divine authority in every part. It comes home to our business and bosoms : it turns our minds from the distinguished individual whose loss we deplore, and fixes them on our own personal concerns ; pro- claiming to every one of us, " Prepare to meet thy God."
The point to which it more immediately calls our attention, is, the coming of our Lord to judgment. The precise period when that awful event shall take place has never been revealed either to men or angels :
a Preached before the University of Cambridge, on occasion of the death of the Rev. Dr. Jowett, Regius Professor of Civil Law ; Nov. 21, 181,3.