therefore here adds a few reflections for their particular consideration and use. Blessed be God, our religion not only commands us to love those who differ from us, but it influences us to do it!

And such I would affectionately entreat to examine, whether, what shall be here addressed, be not the plain declarations of God's holy word, quite apart from matters of private opinion or doubtful disputation. All I wish for, is to call your attention to your Bible ;-to bring forward what God has so repeatedly said, and what you are so unhappily disposed to forget.

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Let me also entreat you to be wise in time; for the greater part of mankind are cut off, before they begin to think seriously. They die without wisdom,' Job iv, 21, because they die without taking warning: like that senator, who, as he went to the assembly, had an account put into his hand by some friend, of a conspiracy formed against his life: he was, however, too much engaged to attend to it; and therefore put it, for the present, into his pocket. He intended to read it the first opportunity; but was stabbed before that opportunity came.

It is under such an anxiety that I now put this paper into your hand. There is, indeed, a conspiracy formed against your life; yea, against the dearest part of man, your soul. This soul is very soon to enter an assembly composed of all nations, tongues and people,' standing before God, the Judge of all. In the way, an Adversary (1 Pet. v, 8) lies in wait to give a fatal stab to its everlasting happiness: sin poisons the dagger in his hand; and a careless unbelieving state of mind affords him opportunity. In such circumstances, shall I scruple to warn you in the plainest terms? God forbid! My silence would hazard my own safety. I cannot forget what was once said to a minister, 'If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity;

but his blood shall I require at thy hand:' Ezek. xxxiii, 8.

The interests, therefore, of your soul are your dearest interests. You will forget the loss of all other things; but this loss will be irreparable. In losing this, all will be lost! For what shall it profit a man, if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Mark viii, 36, 37.

Presumptuous minds, 'blinded by the god of this world,' 2 Cor. iv, 4, may, indeed, seek to overwhelm every consideration of this kind with scoffs and ribaldry; and try to harden themselves and others against the evil day, by the worst of all hopes, namely, "that God is not to be believed." But this desperate conduct can make no alteration whatever as to the things despised: the awful facts remain: time flies apace: eternity approaches, whether we prepare for it or not; and God is not a man, that he should lie : nor the son of man, that he should repent:' Num. xxiii, 19. He hath declared his purpose: he hath warned us of our danger: he hath pointed out our remedy. It is his perfection, that He cannot change, nor deny himself; and therefore, he calls upon us to change; that is, to turn to him and live:' Ezek. xviii, 32.

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Such as think to avoid a danger by turning their eyes from it, have been well compared to that silly bird, which, when closely pursued, thrusts his head into the sand or a thicket; and, because he does not see his pursuers, vainly hopes that they have lost sight of him.

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But Wisdom crieth without, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge! Turn you at my reproof; Prov. i, 20-23. Our wisdom then consists, not in shutting our eyes against a danger, but in opening them to discover a refuge:-not in refusing

to hear the charge brought against sin, saying with the wicked, 'Tush, thou God carest not for it;' but in humbly confessing the evil; submitting to his account of it, and embracing the remedy which he hath provided against it. For all attempts to conceal or excuse this evil are as vain as they are presumptuous: it meets us in the Scriptures,-in the history of every age, in the scenes of every day,—and in our own consciences, if they are not blind or seared.

Man, indeed, may choose to make light of his guilt: but he should recollect that he is not to be the Judge. A criminal may plead for mercy : much more may he embrace it in any way it is offered: but in what court is he allowed to "decide upon his deserts?"

How the Governor of the universe ought to punish sin, and what a government of infinite perfection, like his, requires, we, insects as we are before him, can form no right notions. It is folly and presumption of the worst kind, when we attempt to determine what he ought to do. There is but one way left for wisdom to choose: namely, where we cannot guide ourselves, to accept of an Infallible Guide; and what it is impossible we should know without God, to come and learn of God. When we look around us, and can see no other assurance of safety, no other probable restingplace for the sole of our foot, surely it is our wisdom then to prepare for the worst that can possibly happen: and to come and rest on that foundation, which he has laid in a Redeemer. Rom. ix, 33.

Surely I say again, If any conduct deserves to be called Wise, it must be that which shuns the danger which he points out, and embraces a method of safety which he recommends; nor can Folly itself be more foolish, than to plan, not only without his counsel, but against it.

But what is this counsel? (for I am labouring to persuade you to abide by none but his)-What hath he said to every one of us? Is it not that 'he hath

appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness?" Acts xvii, 31-that we should stand ready to meet that day, because it cometh when least expected, Matt. xxiv, 44-and that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in that day, than for those who have lived under greater advantages, and neglected them? Mark vi, 11.

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He, who. is as a man taking a far journey,' and hath committed to every one his work,' Mark xiii, 34, speaks of a servant who should say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming;' and accordingly pursues his evil course, equally regardless of God or man. But what is the consequence? The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers: Luke xii, 45, 46.

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He further assures.us, That it is not enough that we have not been riotous or injurious, like the servant above. He informs us, That we have each a talent to improve which you will find described at large in Matt. xxv. You will there see another servant (which means every careless sinner) coming and declaring, that, after entertaining hard thoughts of his master's requirements, he had gone, in a sort of despair, and hid his Lord's talent in the earth. Lo, there,' says he, thou hast that is thine!' What followed this wretched excuse, and what became of him whom our Lord calls a wicked and slothful servant,' I (who would fain secure you from this end) entreat you to read; and, with it, that very awful, but instructive account of the great day which immediately follows it.

To listen, then, as this servant did, to our own vain thoughts, or to those of our unbelieving companions, instead of attending to these gracious warnings of our Lord, is certainly one of the most desperate delusions that ever entered the human heart. "I shall do as

well as others," says a thoughtless creature but: should he not first learn, from the Judge of the whole earth, what others are doing? Should he embark soul and body on the ocean of Eternity upon such a presumption as this? (a sort of presumption, upon which he would scarcely risk a shilling of his property) and, especially, after being expressly charged, not by his minister only, but by his Saviour, to strive to enter in at the strait gate, Luke xiii, 24; and assured, that 'broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat; but that narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it? Matt. vi, 13, 14:

To rescue you, therefore, from a 'world which lieth in wickedness,' 1 John v, 19-to prevent your committing a mistake for which no remedy is provided in eternity, and to awaken you to the pursuit of eternal life before the night cometh, when no man can work,' John ix, 4-I have brought forward these scriptures; and add my fervent prayers, that they may be accompanied with a divine blessing to your heart!

CHAPTER XI.

THE INCONSIDERATE WARNED.

A PIOUS writer of the last century has some remarks, so applicable to what has just been said, that I shall select and abridge a passage or two for your use:

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Some," says he, "are so carried away by the stream of evil company, that, when one and another is cut off, it does not daunt them; because they see not whither their companions are gone. Little do they think how such are now lamenting the madness of a careless state. In Luke xvi, the rich man in 36*

VOL. II.