........

and fuch fhall not be difappointed. But as the poet

fings,

Fools never raise their thoughts fo high,
Like brutes they live, like brutes they die;
Like grafs they flourish, till thy breath
Blaft them in everlasting death.

Our Lord teaches us, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, that in the world to come, the miferable fons of sensuality will behold the felicity of those in heaven, whom they have seen in a state of affliction and poverty upon earth; and that this discovery will be a great aggravation of their own mifery. "The rich man died, and was buried; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and faw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bofom." He had a difcovery of the feat and company of the bleffed, which added weight to his own mifery, and fo much the more, as there he beheld poor Lazarus, whom he had formerly neglected and defpifed, in a ftate of perfect tranquillity, honour and joy.

O how terrible and insupportable will the reflections of those men be in that day, who have lived only after the flesh, and had no regard for the favour of him, on whom all our felicity depends! Reader,

Reader, defcend with me, by way of contemplation, into the dismal abodes of horror and despair, and liften, for a moment, to the cries and lamentations of one of those loft fouls, who once wallowed in fenfual delights, and lived without God in the world. "Woe is me, wretch that I am! This is the end

of

my ungodly courses, the juft reward of my evil deeds. I lived regardless of my own everlasting welfare. I difregarded the awful threatenings of that juft and holy Being, whofe anger now falls upon me, like a confuming fire. I took pleasure in that which his foul abhors; I made a mock of fin; but I now find that it bites like a ferpent, and stings like an adder. In vain were friendly warnings given me; in vain was I told, from time to time, that deftruction fhould be to the workers of iniquity. I hardened myself in impiety, and cast off the fear of the Almighty. I flattered myself in my own deceivings and cried peace and safety, till sudden deftruction came upon me, as travail upon a woman with child; and now,O hopeless condition! there is no way of escape. I faid unto God, Depart from me, I defire not the knowledge of thy ways. I fought not his favour, I had no regard for friendhip with him. Upon this I put no value. And now, I am for ever cut off from all hope of enjoying his blifsful prefence. The fentence is juft

》་❁ར་་ར*

which configns me over to thefe doleful regions of everlasting mifery, where the worm dieth not, where the fire which confumes me is never to be quenched! Thofe happy fouls, whofe lives of penitence, piety and devotion on earth I counted madness, are now numbered with the faints, and enjoy the blifs of heaven, while I am for ever excluded! I now find to my coft that the wages of fin is death. I am loft, loft for ever. Deftruction is come upon me from the prefence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.”

Perhaps fome into whose hands these papers may fall, may be conscious within themfelves that they have been hitherto indifferent about the favour of God. Knowing the terrors of the Lord, we would gladly perfuade such to take this fubject into serious confideration. It is not a vain thing, a concern of little moment; it is for your life; as it is only in the divine favour that life is to be enjoyed. How fhall ye escape eternal death, if ye neglect the messages of falvation! Perhaps your language, your behaviour, your whole converfation, and even your confcience bear witness against you, that you are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

Permit me to ask you, Are your cares, your hopes, your fears, your exercises of mind employed about peace and friendship with God, through Jefus

Chrift?

....4..4..

Chrift? Do you feriously examine yourself whether you be in the faith? Can you, like the Pfalmift, addrefs your Maker with fincerity, and fay, "I entreated thy favour with my whole heart; be merciful unto me according to thy word." Are your waking thoughts much employed about this greatest of all concerns? What the Almighty once faid concerning the Jews, deferves particular notice. "My people would not hearken to my voice, and Ifrael would none of me." They valued not my friendfhip or favour. "So I gave them up unto their own hearts luft; and they walked in their own counfels." It is a dreadful judgment, when finners are left to themselves, to fill up the measure of their iniquity, and to perish in their own deceivings. Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone."-It will be feen what his end will be; what efforts he can use to fecure his heart from terror, and his foul from torment, in the day of awful vifitation.Where will he then flee for help, and where will he leave his glory? I will laugh at his calamity, and mock when his fear cometh. Then fhall he call upon me, but I will not answer; for that he hated knowledge, and did not chufe the fear of the Lord; he would none of my counsel, he defpifed all my reproof.

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I

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I might, in the last place, address myself to those, who not only disregard the favour of God themselves, but diflike and even persecute the men who profess their humble hope of interest in it. But I know there is little profpect of gaining the attention of fuch perfons, or of convincing them of the evil of their doings. They, who are in the flesh, have, in all ages, been disposed, more or less, to persecute those who are in the fpirit. They hate a man for his love to God, and ridicule him for his piety and devotion. When Stephen the martyr faid, I fee the heavens opened, and Jefus ftanding at the right hand of God, the frantic Jews, with fatanic rage, exclaimed against him, ftopped their ears, ran upon him like madmen, and ftoned him to death.

Those who make it the business of their lives to feek firft the kingdom of God and his righteousness, to pursue with becoming ardour the one thing needful, and to give diligence to make their calling and election fure, are often branded with the name of hypocrites or enthufiafts. What Jefus faid to his difciples is found to be true, "Ye fhall be hated of all men for my name's fake. Men fhall revile you, and perfecute you, and fay all manner of evil against you; but rejoice ye in that day, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven;

for