God, the thunder of the dreadful trumpet will awake all the dead, I fhall have my part in the first refurrection, and afcend with the bleffed to the eternal manfions of the fky.- -Adored be thy goodness, most glorious Eternal. Ineftimable is thy love in the redemption of finners by the gospel, and the facrifice of the holy Jefus ! Fellow mortal, whoever thou art, into whofe hands this paper cometh, take my advice, and remember thy latter end. If, like me, thou hast been betrayed by the demons into great impieties and prefumptuous fins, and haft been perfuaded to abdicate heaven, and its eternal hopes, in exchange for illicit gratifications of every kind, and the pleasures of this world; then, like me, repent, and in tears and mortification, implore the mercy of heaven. Turn to the everlasting Father of mercies, and the God of all comforts, after his own manner, with humility, forrow, and refolutions of amendment, and in the name of the Lord Jefus Chrift, implore his compaffion and forgiveness, and he will repent and turn unto thee. He will wash you in the blood of Jefus, and make you whiter than fnow. When he fees the finner a great way off in tears, fafting, and prayer, he will run unto him, and fall upon his neck and kifs him. You will become the beloved of the Father, and be reinftated in the favour of the the greatest and most glorious of immortal Beings. He will blefs you here with that peace that paffeth all understanding. He will bless you for ever hereafter with glory and honour in the kingdom he has prepared for the benevolent, the pure, and the honest, But if you continue to offend your Creator, and violate the laws of the God of heaven, then will you live expofed to judgments in this world, and moft certainly will depart in confufion and mifery. The demons you obeyed will gather round the pale, the guilty, the affrighted ghoft of you, eager to involve your wretched fpirit in their own horrors, and will drag it to their difmal regions. And when all the monuments of human power, wealth and pride, fhall be overthrown; the earth itfelf be in a blaze, and the fea turned into vapours, at the defcent of the Son of God, to judge the vaft congregation of the fons of men, the amazing affembly of mortals, unheard of generations raised from the grave, to have all their actions tried; every condition everlaftingly determined; then will you be placed in that division which will call upon the rocks to hide them, and the hills to cover them from the face of the Judge; but in vain attempt to fecrete themfelves from an infinite eye, and an almighty power. Then will the terrors of the gospel ftand in full force against thee, and in the dreadful dreadful fentence pronounced against the guilty you must fhare-Depart from me, ye curfed, into everlasting fire. O dreadful doom! what a tremendous day to finners! and to fee the righteous acquitted, and before your eyes afcend in triumph and fplendor into the manfions of glory, to live the happy favourites of God and Chrift for never-ending ages; while you are driven forward to the infernal prifon, and fhut up in the habitations of eternal darkness and torments-the very thought of it, (if you will think seriously of it) is enough to curdle the blood, and wither in a moment every unlawful joy that fin can produce in bloom and glory. The defpair, the fighs, the groans, the doleful fabricks, when the wicked are driven off to the regions of blackness and darkness for ever, are inexpreffible. Think then. Think in time, my fellow mortal, and profit by the blood of a Saviour. Study his gospel. Hear his minifters. Regard the alarms of confcience, and fubmit to the influence of the holy Spirit. And if you are not that monfter of iniquity I once was, before I obtained the divine mercy, by a timely and fevere repentance, yet, as in heaven, fo in hell, there are many manfions, and if you do not work out your falvation according to the terms of the gofpel, and make every law of Chrift the rules of your behaviour if you do not at 304 A reflec bones of act continually as related to God, to each May 1, 1701. John Orton. 51. This extraordinary paper furprized tion on the me very greatly, and when from reading John Orton. it, I turned my eyes to the bones of John Orton, I could not help breaking out in the following reflection is this the once lively, gallant, And drinking Jack Jack Orton, who thought for forty years that he was made for no higher end than to gratify every appetite, and pass away time in a continual circle of vanity and pleasure! Poor fkeleton, what a miferable fpectacle art thou! Not the leaft remain of activity and joy,,of that sprightliness and levity of mind, that jocund humour and frolic, which rendered thee the delight of the wild focieties of thy youthful time: Grim, ftiff, and horrid, is the appearance now: vain mirth and luxury, licentious plays and sports, can have no connection with these dry bones. O Death, what a change doft thou make! The bulk of mankind are averfe to ferious thought, and hearken to the paffions more than to the dictates of reafon and religion: To kill time, and banish reflection, they indulge in a round of diffipations, and revel in the freedom of vicious exceffes: Their attention is engroffed by fpectacle and entertainments, and fixed to follies and trifles: giddy and unthinking, loose and voluptuous, they spend their precious hours in the gay fcenes of diverfions, pomp and luxury; and as if the grave and a judgment to come, were a romance of former times, or things from which they are fecured, never think of thefe important and momentous fubjects: with minds bewitched by exorbitant pleafure, and faculties enervated and broken by |