make their very sin and abomination their Saviour. And is this the preparation the scriptures require? Is this giving the heart to God? Are such persons consistent worshippers of that God, who is a _Spirit_? Can these be said to be preparing to meet the Lord? Are they at all ready to go forth at the coming of the bridegroom? No. A spiritual infirmity, deeper than that lameness, which prevented _Mephibosheth_ from going out to meet King David, incapacitates, and indisposes them totally for the advent of the King of kings. Their preparation, like the ceremony of a funeral, is nothing but the pageantry of _the dead_; and the decorations of a breathless corpse carried in pompous procession to be food for worms in the grave, exhibit too striking a representation of that unanimated and lifeless formality, which, with all its gaudy trappings, is but the _corpse_ of religion, and leads to the chambers of everlasting death. 3. An habitual _watchfulness_ of spirit, that implies diligence, solicitude, fidelity, prayer, holiness, is absolutely required of those, who would wish to meet God with joy. This watchfulness, in scripture, is contrasted to sloth, inaction, unfaithfulness, inordinate care, worldly-mindedness, and carnal security. It is compared to that circumspection and fidelity which should mark the conduct of a servant, entrusted with the care of a household, and obliged by the nature of his office, as well as the injunctions of his master, to manage every thing in his absence with wisdom, and to prepare for his return; and to that wakeful diligence, by which a house is guarded against the depredations of nightly robbers. _Let your loins be girded about_, _and your lights burning_, _and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord_, _when he will return from the wedding_. _Blessed are those servants_, _whom the Lord_, _when he cometh_, _shall find watching_. _And this know_, _that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come_, _he would have watched_, _and not have suffered his house to be broken through_. Luke, xii. 35–39. The contrary temper of unwatchfulness is described in the character of an unfaithful, quarrelsome, disobedient, and drunken servant, who takes occasion to riot and revel, from the delay of his master’s returning home. _But_, _and if that servant say in his heart_, _my Lord delayeth his coming_, _and shall begin to beat the men-servants and maidens_, _and to eat and drink_, _and to be drunken_, _the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him_, _and at an hour when he is not aware_, _and will cut him in sunder_, _and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers_. Luke, xii. 45, 46. And in all those instances, the principal argument to urge the necessity of watching, is founded on the uncertainty of the time of our Lord’s arrival. _Be ye therefore ready_, _for the Son of man cometh at an hour_, _when ye think not_. Luke, xii. 40.