quently are witneffes to fuch things as thefe, and I believe few of our hearers are intire ftrangers to them.

Once more, what if to the teftimony of the dying, we could add that of the dead? What if GOD were to turn afide the vail between us and the invifible world, and permit the moft careless finner in the affembly to converfe for a few moments with the inhabitants of it? If you were to apply yourfelf to a happy Spirit, that trod the most thorny road to paradife, or paffed through the moft fiery trial, and to afk him," was it worth your while to labour fo much, and to endure so much for what you now poffefs?" Surely if the bleffed in heaven were capable of indignation, it would move them to hear that it should be made a question. And, on the other hand, if you could inquire of one tormented in that flame below, though he might once be "clothed in purple and fine linen, and fare fumptuously every day," Luke xvi. 19. if you could ask him, "whether his former enjoyments were an equivalent for his prefent fufferings and despair?” What anfwer do you suppose he would return? Perhaps an answer of fo much horror and rage, as you would not be able fo much as to indure. Or if the malignity of his nature should prevent him from returning any answer at all, furely there would be à language even in that filence, a language in the darkness, and flames, and groans of that infernal prifon, which would fpeak to your very foul what the word of God is with equal certainty, though less forcible conviction; speaking to your ear, that one thing is needful." You fee it is fo in the judgment of God the Father, and the LORD JESUS CHRIST, of the wifeft and beft of men, of many, who feemed to judge moft differently of it, when they come to more deliberate and serious thought, and not only of the dying, but of the dead too, of those who have experimentally known both worlds, and most surely know what is to be preferred. But I will not reft the whole argument here; therefore,

2. I appeal to the evident reafon of the case itself, as it muft appear to every unprejudiced mind, that the care of the foul is indeed the one thing needful.

I ftill confider myself as speaking not to atheists, or to deifts, but to thofe who not only believe the existence and VOL. V.

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providence of Gop, and a future ftate of happiness and mifery, but likewife who credit the truth of the christian revelation, as many undoubtedly do, who live in a fatal neglect of GOD, and their own fouls. Now on these principles, little reflection may be fufficient to convince you, that it is needful to the prefent repofe of your own mind; needful, if ever you would fecure eternal happiness, and avoid eternal mifery, which will be aggravated, rather than alleviated by all your prefent enjoyments.

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1. The care of the foul is the one thing needful, because, "without it you cannot fecure the peace of your own mind, nor avoid the upbraidings of your confcience."

That noble faculty is indeed the vicegerent of GOD in the foul. It is fenfible of the dignity and worth of an immortal fpirit, and will fometimes cry out of the violence that is offered to it, and cry fo loud, as to compel the finner to hear, whether he will or not. Do you not fometimes find it yourfelves? when you labour moft to forget the concerns of your foul, do they not fometimes force themselves on your remembrance? You are afraid of the reflections of your own mind, but with all your artifice and all your refolution can you intirely avoid them? Does not confcience follow you to your beds, even if denied the opportunity of meeting you in your clofets, and, though with an, unwelcome voice, there warn you," that your foul is neglected, and will quickly be loft:" Does it not follow you to your fhops and your fields, when you are bufieft there? Nay, I will add, does it not fometimes follow you to the feaft, to the club, to the dance, and perhaps, amidst all refiftance, to the theatre too? Does, it not fometimes mingle your sweetest draughts with wormwood, and your gayeft fcenes with horror? So that you are like a tradefman, who, fufpecting his affairs to be in a bad posture, lays by his books and his papers, yet fometimes they will come accidentally in his way. He hardly dares to look abroad for fear of meeting a creditor or an arreft: and if he labours to forget his cares and his dangers, in a courfe of luxury at home, the remembrance is fometimes awakened, and the alarm increased, by thofe very extravagancies in which he is attempting to lofe it. Such probably is the cafe of your minds, and it is a very painful ftate; and while things are thus within, external circumstances can no more make you

happy,

happy, than a fine drefs could relieve you under a violent fit of the ftone. Whereas, if this great affair were fecured, you might delight in reflection, as much as you now dread it; and confcience, of your bittereft enemy, would become a delightful friend, and the teftimony of it your greatest rejoicing.

2. The care of the foul is the one thing needful," because without this your eternal happiness will be loft."

A crown of everlafting glory is not surely fuch a trifle as to be thrown away on a careless creature, that will not in good earneft pursue it. GOD doth not ordinarily deal thus, even with the bounties of his common providence, which are comparatively of little value. As to thefe, the hand of the diligent generally makes rich, and he would be thought diftracted, rather than prudent, who fhould expect to get an eftate merely by wishing for it, or without fome refolute and continued application to a proper courfe of action for that purpose. Now, that we may not foolishly dream of obtaining heaven, in the midst of a course of indolence and floth, we are exprefly told in the word of GOD, that "the kingdom of heaven fuffers violence, and the violent take it by force," Matth. xi. 12. and are therefore exhorted to ftrive," with the greatest intenseness, and eagerness of mind, as the word properly fignifies," to enter in at the ftrait gate," for this great and important reafon, because many fhall another day feek to enter in, and fhall not be able," Luke xiii. 24. Nay, when our LORD makes the most gracious promises to the humble petitioner, he does it in fuch a manner as to exclude the hopes of those who are careless and indiffe rent. "Afk, and it shall be given you; feek, and you shall find; knock, and it fhall be opened unto you, Matth. vii. 7. If, therefore, you do not afk, feek, and knock, the door of mercy will not be opened, and eternal happiness will be loft. Not that heaven is to be obtained by our own good works: no, no; for having done all, we muft account ourselves unprofitable fervants.

And furely if I could fay no more as to the fatal confequences of your neglect, than this, that eternal happiness will be loft, I fhould fay enough to imprefs every mind, that confiders what ETERNITY means. To fall into a ftate of everlasting forgetfulness, might indeed appear a refuge to a mind filled

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with the apprehenfion of future mifery.

But O how dreadful a refuge is it! Surely it is fuch a refuge, as a vaft precipice, (from which a man falling would be dafhed to pieces in a moment) might appear to a perfon, pursued by the officers of juftice, that he might be brought out to a painful and linger. ing execution. If an extravagant youth would have reason to look round with anguifh, on fome fair and ample paternal inheritance, which he had fold or forfeited merely for the riot of a few days: how much more melancholy would it be for a rational mind to think that its eternal happiness is loft for any earthly confideration whatever? Tormenting thought! "Had I attended to that one thing which I have neglected, I might have been, through the grace of GoD in CHRIST JESUS, great and happy beyond expreffion, beyond conception not merely for the little span of ten thousand thoufand ages, but for ever. A line reaching even to the remoteft ftar would not have been able to contain the number of ages, nor would millions of years have been fufficient to figure them down; this is eternity, but I have lost it, and am now on the verge of being. This lamp, which might have outlafted those of the firmament, will presently be extinguished, and I blotted out from amongst the works of God, and cut off from all the bounties of his hand." Would not this be a very miferable cafe, if this were all? And would it not be fufficient to prove this to be the better part, which, as our LORD obferves, can "never be taken away?" But God forbid that we should be fo unfaithful to him, and to the fouls of men, as to reft in fuch a reprefentation alone. I therefore add once more,

3. The care of the foul is the one thing needful, because "without it, you cannot avoid a state of eternal mifery, "which will be aggravated, rather than alleviated by all your prefent enjoyments.'

Nothing can be more evident from the word of the GoD of truth. It there plainly appears to be a determined case, which leaves no room for a more favourable conjecture or hope. "The wicked fhall be turned into hell, even all the nations that forget GoD," Pfalm ix. 17. "They fhall go away into everlasting punishment, Matth. xxv. 46. into a ftate where they fhall in vain feek death, and death fhall flee from them. Oh! brethren, it is a certain, but an awful truth,

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that your fouls will be thinking and immortal beings, even in fpite of themfelves. They may indeed torment, but they cannot destroy themselves. They can no more fufpend their power of thought and perception, than a mirror its property of reflecting rays that fall on its furface. Do you suspect the contrary? Make the trial immediately. Command your minds to ceafe from thinking but for one quarter of an bour, or for half that time, and exclude every idea, and every reflection. Can you fucceed in that attempt? Or rather, does not thought prefs in with a more fenfible violence on that resistance; as an anxious defire to fleep, makes us fo much the more wakeful. Thus will thought follow you beyond the grave, thus will it, as an unwelcome guest, force itself upon you, when it can ferve only to perplex and distress the mind. It will for ever upbraid you, that notwithstanding all the kind expoftulations of GoD and man, notwithstanding all the keen remonftrances of confcience, and the pleadings of the blood of CHRIST, you have gone on in your folly, till heaven is loft, and damnation incurred; and all, for what? for a fhadow and a dream.

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Oh think not, finners, that the remembrance of your past pleasures, and of your fuccefs in your other cares, whilft that of the one thing needful was forgotten, think not that this will ease your minds. It will rather torment them the more. "Son, remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things." Bitter remembrance! Well might the heathen poets represent the unhappy spirits in the fhades below, as eagerly catching at the water of forgetfulness, yet unable to reach it. Your present comforts will only serve to give you a livelier fenfe of your mifery, as having tasted such degrees of enjoyment; and to inflame the reckoning, as you have mifimproved thofe talents lodged in your hands for better purpofes. Surely, if these things were believed, and seriously confidered, the finner would have no more heart to rejoice in his prefent profperity, than a man would have to amuse him felf with the curiofities of a fine garden, through which he was led to be broken upon the rack.

But I will enlarge no farther on these things. Would to GOD that the unaccountable ftupidity of mens minds, and their fatal attachment to the pleasures and cares of the prefent

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