than they ever were. One devil might once appear to have left them, but seven to have taken possession of them, but not thus is it with the possessors of real, youthful piety. Their path is that of the just, shining more and more unto the perfect day.

Obj. 19. But I do not believe that God will be so strict as he is represented. Nor do I believe that he will be offended with me for following my pleasures, and gratifying the inclinations of the nature he has giv

en me.

Ans. So then your objections come to infidelity at last. You do not believe what God declares; for it is he that in his own word represents himself thus religjonsly strict; it is he who there assures you that the end of a life of vanity and sinful pleasure, is eternal death. You do not believe God, but listen to the tempter in preference to him. Thus was the world at first ruined. The tempter said to our parent, " Ye shall not surely die." The lie was believed, and they were undone. As for following the inclinations of your nature, you might safely do so, if your nature were what it was, when man came from his Creator's hands. Then were his dispositions holy.

Or what renewed
Then will all cor-

man will be, in the eternal world. ruption be banished from him. But now your nature is corrupt and fallen; its dispositions earthly, sensual, and devilish. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, as I have endeavoured to shew you, Chap. 2, Sect. 4. It would be as safe for a man, in a fit of raging madness, to follow the suggestions of his disordered mind, as for you, in your fallen state, to follow those of corrupt nature.

Obj. 20. After all that can be urged, I am determined not to relinquish my pleasures, and become a poor melancholy creature. I will venture eternity. I will

have my own way.

Ans. Alas! if these are your feelings, I would say to you, it is your own way, and the downward road; it is not God's, nor will it lead you to him. But if you have your way, depend upon it, by and by he will have his. You have your day of sin, and your Judge will have his day of retribution. And what will you do in that day of visitation?

CHAPTER XXII.

The young reader further urged to make no delay in giving himself up to God.

SECT. 1. An interesting anecdote illustrative of the subject of the Chapter....s. 2. Delay the ruin of millions, and the source of dreadful evils....s. 3. Some sad instances of the awful consequences of neglecting to embrace the gospel....s. 4. The folly and wickedness of delaying displayed....s. 5. Some of the happy consequences that would result to the young Reader from making an immediate choice of early religion.

SECT. 1. IT is related, that a pious minister of the 17th century, having finished prayer, and looking around upon his congregation, observed a young gentleman just shut into one of the pews, who discovered much uneasiness in that situation, and seemed to wish to get out again. The minister feeling a peculiar desire to detain him, hit upon the following singular expedient. Turning towards one of the members of his church, who sat in the gallery, he asked him this question, aloud-" Brother, do you repent of your coming to Christ?" "No, sir," he replied, "I never was happy till then; I only repent that I did not come to him sooner. The minister then turned towards the opposite gallery, and addressed himself to an aged member in the same manner-" Brother, do you repent that you came to Christ?" 'No, sir," said he, "I have known the Lord from my youth up." He then looked down upon the young man, whose attention was fully engaged, and, fixing his eyes upon him, said, "Young man, are you willing to come to Christ?" This unexpected address from the pulpit, exciting the observation of all the people, so affected him, that he sat down and hid his face. The person who sat next him encouraged him to rise, and answer the question. The minister repeated it--" Young man, are you willing to come to Christ?" With a tremulous voice he replied, "Yes, sir," "But when, sir?” added the minister, in a solemn and loud tone. He mildly answered, "Now, sir." Then stay," said he, "and hear the word of God,

46

which you will find in 2 Cor. vi. 2; Behold, Now is the accepted time; behold, Now is the day of salvation." By this sermon he was greatly affected; he went into the vestry, after service, dissolved in tears. That un

willingness to stay, which he had discovered, was occasioned by the strict injunction of his father, who threatened, that, if ever he went to hear the fanatics, he would turn him out of doors. Having now heard, and being unable to conceal the feelings of his mind, he was afraid to meet his father. The minister sat down and wrote an affectionate letter to him, which had so good an effect, that both father and mother came to hear for themselves. They were both brought to the knowledge of the truth; and father, mother, and son, were together received with universal joy into the church.

Does this young man now repent that he listened immediately to the message of God? Far from it! God rewarded his immediate compliance, by bringing his parents also to the knowledge of the truth.

Sect. 2. Already have you been entreated to make the same choice; and have you done so? or are you still for putting it off a little longer? O! if; f you are, be assured that delay is one of the most successful of Satan's infernal stratagems for ruining immortal souls; hell, it is to be feared, is filled with delayers. Multitudes that did not intend to live and die neglecting Christ, yet have been persuaded to delay a little longer, and still a little longer, till death overtook them unprepared. Not merely, then, do I beseech you to give your youth to God, but to do so without delay: consider the dreadful evils of delaying.

While you delay, your life is going; every sabbath leaves you one season of mercy less. Your heart is hardening; and every day there is less hope of your conversion than there was the day before. While you delay, you are grieving the Spirit of God, and tempting him to leave you for ever; and, if he should, you will be undone The oftener he has called, the seldomer he will call. The oftener you have slighted, or quenched, the impressions he has made on your heart, the less probability there is of your ever partaking of the grace of God. While you delay, you continue in your lost and

for ever.

wretched state; all your sins are upon you. You linger on the brink of hell. You put off seeking mercy, but cannot put off the approach of judgment. Alas! your judgment lingereth not, and your damnation slumbereth not. You lie down at night with no security that you shall not awake in hell before the morning dawns. You arise in the morning to pursue your business, or your amusements, with no certainty of being out of endless misery when the evening comes. What would you think of a man playing with a weed while drowning, instead of accepting the help that should snatch him from destruction? Alas! how ruinous would be his folly! but, O! how much more ruinous is yours, while you put off attending to those things which belong to your everlasting peace!

"An hour improv'd or lost may be

More than a thousand worlds to thee."

While you delay, you let Satan have his ends; it is enough for him if you will but put off, from time to time, turning to Christ; for he knows full well, though you forget it, that death will soon put this off for ever. While you delay, you live without one real blessing; you have no hope of glory; no interest in God; no place in heaven. You insult the Most High, who bids you to seek. him to-day. You are ungrateful to his beloved Son, who did not delay to come and die for wretched men, when the appointed time arrived.

Sect. 3. Consider also how wretched has been the end of multitudes who have acted this part. Many are eternally shut out of heaven, and eternally shut up in hell, through delaying to turn to God! Some years back, I repeatedly visited an aged man, who was ill. He had spent nearly fourscore years without God in the world; but then professed sincere penitence. After some time he unexpectedly grew better, and a little space more was added unto his life; but apparently added in vain. When his health was restored, he seemed to serve the same hard master again, as he had always served. But illness soon returned; and it was understood that he died miserably. I knew another person, that once seemed much in earnest in inquiring for spiritual blessings; but, ah, delay! after a time he grew comparatively careless. God now visited him with a painful affliction. I saw him at

that time; he seemed sensible of his sin and folly, and penitent for it. At length divine mercy favoured him once more with health; but when health returned, the serious impressions that he appeared to have in illness, fed away. Again he grew careless of his God. Again he delayed; but, ah! not for a long period: in his case, also, illness soon returned. His soul was now filled with distress and misery, and death summoned the unhappy criminal to the bar of his God. Shall I relate another anecdote? A young person called upon an aged man, afflicted with illness, and hastening to the grave; the youth spoke to him of the blessed Saviour and the precious gospel: for a few minutes he listened with serious attention, then burst into a flood of tears, and exclaimed, "Ah! my young friend, had I thought on these things thirty or forty years ago, what a happy man might I now have been, but now (wringing his hands) it is toe late; liell must be my portion for ever.

"And shall I say, "Tis yet too soon
To seek for heaven, or think of death?"
A flower may fade before 'tis noon,
And I this day resign my breath.

If this rebellious heart of mine

Despise the Gracious calls of Heaven,
I may be harden'd in my sin,

And never have repentance given."

Sect. 4. The word of the Most high says, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts;1 and that is a most important question, Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth? Can you, will you, besitate to say, Great God, thou shalt be the guide of mine? What! hesitate whether to seek God as your portion, and your Father, or to have no interest in him! What! hesitate whether Christ shall be your Saviour, or Satan your tormentor; whether heaven or hell shall be your inheritance! whether angels or devils shall be your companions! If you will delay, consider well what you are about, and do it deliberately. Try if you can make a memorandum to this effect: "That, having weighed the importance of