248 POVERTY AND MISERY proach him as their own; the language they are taught is, Abba Father; but you are destitute of this sweet interest in him. You want all interest in the love of Christ; how tender is his af fection to his people! but you have no part nor lot in this matter. It is a treasure in which you have no share. Unhappy youth! to be without a Saviour's love. Wretched creature! to have no part in that treasure, compared with which the treasures of a thousand worlds would be as dross and dust. You live without a part in any of the blessings Christ bestows. He is no Saviour of yours, though you may insult him with the title of Saviour. He is no shepherd of yours, for you refuse to submit to his gentle yoke, and are not one of his flock. If you call the blessings of his gospel, grace and glory yours, you are deluding your own soul, for they will never belong to you till you belong to him. It is to his sheep only that he gives eternal life; but you will not come to him that you may have life. Calling him Lord, Lord, will avail you not, for he has solemnly declared, "Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name; and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Thus you have no Saviour to take your sins away; no intercessor to plead for you before the eternal Father's throne; no shepherd to guide you through the wilderness of life. Gal. iv. 6. John, v. 46. Matt. vii. 21. OF THE IRRELIGIOUS. 249 Bright, indeed, are the hopes of those who are truly the young disciples of the Lord; but none of those hopes are yours. O, the blest eternal mansions of purity and joy! the sweet immortal morning of never-ending day! O, the kingdom of God! the smile of his countenance! the tokens of his love! O, the welcome of a Saviour! and the crowns of glory that he purchased, when wearing a crown of thorns! O, the blessed society above! the bright natives of that higher world, or revered saints from this! These are the hopes, that the dwelling, those the friends, that the humble Christian shall shortly possess. But, alas! for you no glorious mansions are prepared; no Saviour smiles; no heaven blooms; no immortal day shines for you. No crown of life awaits you; and none are ready to welcome your entrance on eternity but those infernal beings, who with hellish joy may exclaim, Art thou become like unto us? You want also those blessings that should comfort you in death. All the false supports and deluding pleasures of the world will then be vanity of vanities, and what have you besides? - You want a title to the bliss of heaven. - You have no reason for supposing that your name is "written in the book of life;" for "he that believeth not shall be damned," and "except you be converted you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Heaven is no home of yours. The friends of Christ and the children of God are the heirs of it; for they are "begotten again to a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them;" but the followers of the world are 1 Peter, i. 4. Mark, xvi. 16. Matt. xviii. 3. 250 MISERY AND DANGER the children of Satan, and have no part there; they are "the children of wrath, without Christ and without hope." (Ephes. ii. 3. 12.) Unhappy young man, or young woman! this is too surely your sad condition. O wretched creature! how poor are you in the midst of all you may possess! how truly miserable, in the midst of all your gaieties and pleasures! Poor trifler, you have not one cheering promise in the book of God. If you turn to God, you will have many, but now you have not one. Not one promise that you shall be kept out of hell, even for one month; but many awful threats, that if you die as you are, you shall be turned into that flaming prison. Poor, indeed, are you, all you have will leave you soon. Your hasty pleasures will soon depart, and you must lie down in the dust of death; and leave for ever the world you love so well; while a dreadful and neglected eternity will appear before your trembling soul. An § 3. The want of religion not merely deprives you of numberless blessings, but exposes you to numberless evils. While without this one thing needful, sin in one form or another, will reign over you. You will be the easy prey of temptations; companions in folly will lead you astray, and Satan guide you in the way to destruction. Dreadful are the evils that sin occasions. old writer has truly said, "It brings upon us infinite sorrows, plagues, miseries, and the most fearful judgments, blindness of mind, hardness of heart, horrors of conscience, vexation and anguish of soul, bondage under Satan, the prince of darkness, and banishment from God, the fountain of all bliss; and mischiefs more than either tongue can tell, or heart can think. It OF THE IRRELIGIOUS. 251 kills an immortal soul eternally, which is more than all the bloody men on earth or all the desperate devils in hell can do. It will bring upon it in the world to come sorrows without end, and past imagination." How sad an end is this to a few short years of sinful delight! § 4. The want of religion is a want which spoils all other blessings. The longer the humble Christian lives, the more he may advance in grace, and ripen for a crown of brighter glory; but if you live without religion, life will be no blessing to you. The longer you live the worse will be your guilt, the more numerous your sins, and the greater your future condemnation. For you in vain the Saviour died. His gospel is to you the savour of death unto death. For you in vain apostles preached, and martyrs bled, to hand a gracious religion down. For you in vain the followers of Jesus pray. The sun shines on you in vain, for it shines to light you to destruction. The years roll on in vain, for every added year increases your load of guilt. Health blesses you in vain, for your soul is sickening to eternal death. All the mercies of this world, and all that respect the next, are spoiled or lost to you, "but like a talent of gold, to a man sinking in the sea, which only serves to plunge him deeper in ruin." So that, harsh as it may sound, it would really have been better for you to have been cut off in your sins, and been sent to hell years ago, than to live here adding to the number of your sins, and then sink to endless wretchedness. Yes, unhappy youth, if you continue careless of religion, every added year prove a curse instead of a blessing. The longer you live in this world, the deeper will be your and are, will 252 IRRELIGION CHANGES BLESSINGS INTO CURSES. misery in the next. The more mercies you enjoy, the more guilt you contract. The more blessings you receive from God, the baser is your ingratitude and sin in refusing to give him your youth. A dying profligate once said, "I have been too strong for Omnipotence. I have plucked down ruin." Thus, by carelessness and neglect, you change God's blessings into curses. Oh, what would you think of a sick man, who, by some fatal power, should change all the remedies, by which a kind physician would restore his health, into a subtle poison, which should occasion him years of misery, and torture him to death! Distracted wretch! you might exclaim, all are kind to him but himself! how happy might he be, if he felt half the pity for himself, that others feel for him! Do you slight your God? You act this part; rather a far worse than this; you change his healing medicines into poison; his blessings into curses. You heap up wrath against the day of wrath. By the very mercies of God, you are preparing matter for your own torment; not merely through a few fleeting years, but through a dreadful eternity. Distracted youth! did you feel half that pity for your own soul, that others feel for you, how happy would you become! how many are kind to you! how cruel are you to yourself! O, cease thus to run in the path of destruction, you may yet find that one thing, the want of which is so dreadful. O, seek it now, for they that seek the Lord early, shall find him. "While Jesus speaks, his voice regard, Humbly implore the promised grace, |