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forgotten here; they are hidden from your sight, but are more alive to joy or sorrow, than they ever were upon earth. Soon will the time arrive, when you must meet this solemn change of being; when you must converse with man no more, but must become a companion of angels or of devils. And, O, what is the worth of a soul! that may, through endless ages, shine in heaven, glorious as an angel of light; or which, covered with darkness, misery, and despair, must become a devil, in that lake of fire, where the fire never shall be quenched. O! in pity to your own precious and immortal soul, embrace, without delay, the gospel of your God.

§ 3. The worth of the soul is a subject, on which men of all descriptions have agreed; on which, the best and wisest have had their testimony confirmed, by the most careless and the worst. Martyrs have shown their sense of its value, by all their sufferings to secure its salvation. For this, thousands, as sensible as you of the comforts of life, have willingly forsaken "kindred, country, friends, and ease;" have been tortured on racks, or devoured by beasts of prey; been burned alive, or suffered torments far more intolerable than burning! "And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment; they were stoned; were sawn asunder; were tempted; were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; of whom the world was not worthy; they wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens, and caves of the earth." (Heb. xi. 37.) Impressed with the worth of the soul, many, with these dark scenes before them,

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have bid farewell to all the allurements of the world, to meet the roughest storms of persecution, face its dangers and sink into the grave beneath them. Yet while some were burning, others were coming forward to take their places in the true spirit of the English martyr, who, at the place of execution, kissed the stake and exclaimed, "Welcome the cross of Christ, welcome everlasting life.". Does one of all these martyred myriads repent? Does one now imagine that he suffered more than salvation was worth? Ah no, if they could now address you, they might tell you, that sooner than lose the soul, they would burn in flames a thousand times hotter; suffer torments a thousand times more protracted; prisons a thousand times more dismal; and meet death, in forms, if possible, a thousand times more terrible. And was it worth their while, to endure so much to reach heaven; and is it not worth yours, in earnestness, to seek admittance there?

§ 4. If, after the testimony of such distinguished witnesses, you should hearken to theirs, who have trodden a less brilliant and less suffering path to heaven, their testimony would be the same. Say to the dying Christian, “You are in those circumstances, which enable you to view this world and the next aright; what should I mind ?" He, in purport, would reply, "Take care of your soul." A dying saint said, to some friends that visited him, "You come hither to learn to die. I can assure you that your whole life, be it ever so long, is little enough to prepare for death. Have a care of this vain deceit. ful world, and the lusts of the flesh. Be sure you choose God for your portion; heaven for

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your home; God's glory for your end, his word for your rule; and then you need never fear, but we shall meet with comfort."* Or ask the dying profligate, he who treated all religion as a dream, and the soul as a trifle, say to him, "What shall I chiefly mind?" and would he not reply, "Take care of your soul, and avoid my folly; for I have ruined mine." One unhappy man, who had lived in wealth and splendour, but had trifled with eternal things, a short time before death, said, "I had provided in the course of my life, for every thing except death, and now, alas! I am to die, although entirely unprepared."+ Another, who was eminent for his wisdom and learning, but who had been negligent of the great salvation, said, "It is lamentable, that men consider not for what they are born into the world, till they are ready to go out of it." Another, who was distinguished for his talents, his ambition, and his success in gaining worldly honours, not long before his death, cried out, "O my poor soul, what will become of thee! whither wilt thou go!"§

§ 5. Have you, my young friend, never been in that situation, in which the world appeared a dream, a cheat, a nothing? Have you never lain upon the bed of sickness, and passed wearisome days and sleepless nights of languor or of pain? Have you never been in such circum. stances as to expect that a few days or weeks would end your mortal course, fix your body in the grave, and your soul in eternity? and have you forgot what were then your views and feelings? Did the world appear as enchanting to you then,

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as it does now? Did the soul and its salvation then seem a thing of little moment? Rather did not the world seem vanity of vanities? Were you now on a bed of sickness, or languishing and dying, would not these be your views? And must not you, ere long, be in such a situation? And will you not then confess, that the only thing that deserves your care is the immortal soul? O, why neglect it, when you might secure its salvation! Why put off entering the way of Mife, till that way is shut for ever? By the testimonies of others to the worth of the soul, and by the convictions of your own mind, I beseech you to secure its salvation, by applying, without delay, to the Son of God for life.

§ 6. Reflect on the interest taken in the wel. fare of your soul by those who are best acquanted with its worth. If you, my young friend, were to behold a person in danger of death, and to witness a whole kingdom filled with anxiety on his account; to see the monarch stooping to the meanest offices of kindness; all faces filled with anxiety, all hearts with concern, for this individual: you might justly believe him to be one held in the highest estimation. Consider then, I beseech you, the interest which all the inhabitants of heaven take in the welfare of the soul. Angels, those blessed spirits, to whom all the glory of this world would seem a contemptible dream, are not uninterested where the soul is concerned. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." And as they rejoice at the conversion of a soul; so they watch, doubtless, with pleasure over the steps of their future companions above,

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Sent by their Creator on errands of kindness, they descend to earth, and attend the soul in its progress towards heaven; and when its pilgriEmage is concluded, become its convoy to the abodes of blessedness. O my young friend, shall these happy spirits take so much interest in the welfare of your soul; and will you yourself be careless? Shall they be willing to minister to you as unseen messengers of love; and will you neglect that soul over which they would fain rejoice, whose mortal course they would cheerfully attend, and which they would gladly conduct to the bosom of Christ?

§ 7. But it is not merely the inferior though glorious inhabitants of heaven, whose conduct testifies the worth of the soul. God, the great and blessed God, has so loved the world, as to give his only-begotten Son to be a ransom for the ruined souls of men; and Jesus Christ, the brightness of his Father's glory, has suffered and died to redeem immortal souls from death. Raise your eyes, and view the creation of God. Behold the earth, the moon, the sun, the stars, and all the wonders of the spangled sky; and then consider, that for that soul which you have probably neglected, yet for that neglected soul, the Creator of this splendid train became a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. O learn, my young friend, the worth of your immortal spirit, from what passed on Calvary in its behalf! See the God of glory resigning his best beloved to unbridled fury, stripes, and death; to the torturing cross, the bloody spear, and the dismal grave! See the patient Son of God, patient amidst enemies foaming with rage and breathSee Ps. xc1. 11.-Heb. i. 14-Luke, xvi. 22.