felves in the World? You do almtoft as much as this for your Horfes and Dogs. Is it enough, think ye, to teach them polite Aċcomplishments, and to get Fortunes for them? I hope you think this is not enough. You teach your Children the Principles of Religion: It is well. But do they not fee in you. too much Eagernefs about the World, and Fondness for Drefs and Pleasures? and do you not encourage thefe Difpofitions in them? and thus your Behaviour directly contradicts the Maxims of the Gofpel which you teach. them; and, in Effect, undoes all your Inftructions. Let me direct you to inquire, as in the Sight of GOD, with what Seriousness. you teach your Children, and with what Earneftness you pray for them. If you never talk to them about their Souls, and eternal Concerns, or never appear deeply affected when you are fpeaking of them, how can your Children believe that they are important, or that you think them fo? If you never pray with them alone, nor in your Families, or only in a cold, formal, lifeless, Manner, how is it likely that GOD fhould hear your Prayers, or your Children be the better for them? If they fee you much elated with worldly Succefs, and much dejected at worldly Loffes; if they fee you very diligent and anxious about seen and temporal Things, but fhewing no Concern and Zeal about unfeen and eternal Things; what Good can you expect from them? My Brethren, the plain Queftion is this, Have your Children immortal Souls, or have they not? If they have,

it

it undoubtedly ought to be your firft, your chief, Care, to correct thofe ill Habits and Paffions which would make them Fuel for eternal Fire, and to cultivate and encourage thofe good Difpofitions and Qualities which will be the Seed of eternal Life. Remember that your Children may foon die, and be out of the Reach of your Inftructions and Prayers; and, if they perish through your Neglect, GOD will require their Blood at your Hand. I hope you pity and pray for your Minifters under the Weight of fo awful a Thought. They are obliged to you for your Pity and Prayers; and they can make you no better Return than to urge and beseech you to pity yourselves, and to pity your Children; and to pray for you, that GOD would excite you, by his Spirit, to a pious Care of them, and affift and fucceed you in it. Let me add, that Masters and Mistresses should be tenderly concerned for the eternal Welfare of their Servants. Allow them, my Friends, Time to prepare for Eternity; efpecially, to attend public Worfhip both Parts of every Lord's Day, if poffible, as they have few other Advantages. Compaffionately reprove what is amifs in them; direct and encourage them to be serious and good; put Bibles, and plain practical Treatifes, into their Hands; and let them learn, from your Inftructions, Examples, and Prayers, what they must do to be faved. The Soul of the meaneft is unfpeakably precious. For the Souls of the pooreft Chrift fhed his Blood. There is no Distinction between Mafters and Servants in

the

the World of Spirits; and, to that eternal World you and they are haftening, and must quickly ftand together before the Tribunal of your common Mafter, with whom there is no refpect of Perfons. Since the Things, that are not feen, are eternal,

4. What an awful Thing is it to die, and enter upon an eternal State!

One of the Fathers, with great Beauty and Propriety, calls Death "The Gate of Eter"nity;" the Death of a human Creature in his paffing out of Time into Eternity; and what can be a more folemn Thing? The Death of our Fellow-Creatures around us is fo common, that we seldom make any ferious Reflections upon it. it. Persons often talk of it with as much Indifference as of any common Article of News; " read a Play-Bill, and a "Bill of Mortality, with much the fame Sen"fations." (h) Thus, as the Pfalmift obferves, like Sheep Men are laid in the Grave. (i) Survivors, like Sheep, when One is taken away to be flaughtered, are, for awhile, alarmed and terrified; but, like them, they foon return to their Food or Diverfion, forget thofe that are gone, and do not improve their Removal. With Regard to the

(h) Dr. Young.

(i) Pfalm xlix. 14. Circumstance

Circumftance of Death, there is generally one Event to the Righteous and the Wicked. But, oh, what a vast inconceivable Difference immediately fucceeds it! With regard to each, their Time of Trial is ended, and their eternal State commences. The righteous Man putteth off the Body, with all its Cares, Temptations, and Sorrows. His Soul afcends to GOD, and enters upon everlafting Reft, Security, and Joy; it paffeth to a World where all its Faculties fhall be enlarged, where it fhall be conformed to the Image of GOD in Holiness, and be perfectly and unalterably happy. What a glorious and delightful Change to a good Man! The Sinner likewife changes a temporal for an eternal State; but it is a State of Mifery. When a wicked Man dieth, faith Solomon, his Expectation fhall perish, and the Hope of unjust Men perisbeth. (k) His laft Breath and his last Hope expire together. He fhall never hear preaching or praying any more;

never re

ceive one other Invitation of Grace or Of fer of Mercy. When a wicked Man dieth, he leaves temporal. Things, which were his Portion and Happiness, behind him. He is brought into Defolation, as in a Moment, and utterly consumed with Terrors. He goes to the Bar of GOD to give an Account of the Time, the Means, and Advantages, he hath enjoyed, and to receive his Doom.

The

Soul, which hath been, through Life, asleep in Sin, will awake to full Vigour in another World; awake, to behold its own Guilt and Wretchedness, as foon as it quits the Body. The Soul will then be all Sight, all Senfe, all Ear; and its Immortality, which is now its Dignity and Privilege above the Brutes, will be its everlasting Mifery and Torment. This is the Portion of a wicked Man. And is it not, then, an awful Thing to die? You will think so when the King of Terrors seizes you. A Man of Humour, in his gay Hours, wrote and published a Hiftory of thofe who had died jefting; but he folemnly retracted it, in writing, on his Death-Bed; for, he found that Death was no jefting Matter. (1) To fee an immortal Creature dying, with a Jeft upon his Tongue, or in a stupid, thoughtless, Manner, or even without any well-grounded Hope, is furely the faddeft Spectacle in the World. To think of his Removal to cverlafting Punifhment is, furely, the most affecting Thought that can enter into the human Mind. -Ah, Eternity! Eternity! faid a graceless Wretch once, dying, and looking difmally at thofe about him; and there he ftopped: He faid no more; more he could not fay, more he need not fay. Ponder upon this Example; and, if you dread fuch a Death, do not lead fuch a Life. When we consider that Death

(1) M. Deflandes.

is