Brethren, we are all dwelling in tabernacles, tents that have no firm foundation; which are to be taken down and soon. The general judgment may tarry, CHRIST may not come in His glorious majesty, and meet us while in the body: but if not then _death_ will surely come, and out of the body we must go to meet CHRIST. How soon shall that be? How soon shall we meet Him? Do you ever give these things a serious thought? Do you ever consider that the apparently capricious last enemy is wont to take the young and strong as often as the old and feeble, and, _as_ he chooses, sometimes to sound the warning note from afar off, sometimes to come silently, suddenly as a thief in the night? Do you feel—I single out each man, each woman, each child that hears me, and in GOD’S name I ask that individual—Do you feel that _you_ may be Death’s next victim, that ere the day is over you may be gone to your account, or at least the seeds of mortal disease may be beginning to grow in you? Oh, do not resist this appeal by persuading yourselves that the thing is improbable. Let it be enough that you know (and you do know) that it is possible, and, if possible, that you ought to entertain the possibility. Well now, let me farther ask, Are you prepared, are you preparing to die? Are you going to leave the vast concerns of an eternal state to the consideration of a moment, a moment too which may be denied you, if not by the instant cutting of life’s thread, by mortal fears and lingerings, and recoilings, by the engrossing pains of the body, by the locking up of the senses in stupor or delirium? Are you putting off concern; heedless of thought and preparation for meeting GOD? Are you calculating upon being able to think and feel aright when you will, to ask and obtain pardon for all that is wrong, to be excused for all deficiencies in a moment, to do the work of life on a sick-bed, to satisfy GOD with the dregs of the cup of life, to become a passive recipient of the necessary holiness which GOD bids all acquire actively? Do you suppose it will suffice to think of these things when the doctor tells you you cannot recover; to send for the clergyman to teach and move you when the faculty of heeding is well nigh gone, to pray for you, if you are unable to pray for yourself, to sigh over your body, if, alas! the soul has fled? Or are you now more or less possessed with religious thought and feeling, sitting loose to this world, weaning yourselves more and more from it, nerving yourselves for the last hour, sighing over and confessing your sins, trusting to CHRIST’S mercy, aspiring to heaven, praying for acceptance? Whether you are indifferent to or merely postponing concern, for self’s best interests, or whether you are already absorbed by self’s best interests, let me remind you—without presuming to set any bounds to GOD’S mercy, without disputing that GOD has sometimes received those who first turned to Him on a death-bed, without caring to satisfy those who