is the Gate of Eternity, what a folemn Thing is the Death of a fingle Perfon! But how deeply must every ferious Mind be affected to hear of Hundreds, and fometimes Thousands, being hurried into Eternity at once, by the devouring Sword, by a Shipwreck, or an Earthquake! - Is Death the Gate of Eternity? What a horrible Thing is Self-Murder! And how little do they think of an Hereafter who madly rush out of the World in Defiance of the Authority and Appointment of the Almighty, and plunge themselves into everlasting Destruction, to escape temporary Poverty, Pain, or Shame! How much Reafon have they who are yet in their Sins to adore the divine Long-Suffering and Patience to which it is owing that they have not been long ago cut off, and configned to the Regions. of everlafting Darknefs and Defpair! And what a powerful Motive fhould this Confideration be to us all to be ferious and thoughtful, fober and diligent, fervent in Spirit, ferving the Lord, fince Eternity is juft before us! Let us, my Fiends, of ten think what it is to die, and to what a World and State the departed Soul immediately goes. It is an eternal, unalterable, State. It goes to one of those two awful Regions where the Love of GoD appears in its brightest Glories, or his Vengeance in inconceivable Horrors. Think of this when you hear of the Death of others. How natural and useful a Reflection would this be, "They are gone into Eternity!" When

you

❝ ed;

you hear the folemn Sound of a tolling Bell, think, "there is fome other Soul gone "into Eternity." When you attend or fee the Funeral of a Relation, Neighbour, or Acquaintance, think, "His Time is endhe is gone to his eternal Home, "and fixed in an unchangeable State." Such Thoughts and Reflections as thefe, none but Fools will endeavour to banish from their Minds; and none will fneer at him who expreffeth them, but Men of the World, who have their Portion in this Life. Such Thoughts are perfectly reasonable, highly becoming mortal Creatures, and, being of very great Advantage, fhould always be recollected on thefe Occafions. I would particularly inculcate them upon those Perfons who are moft in Danger of forgetting them; I mean thofe, who, by their Profeffions and Employments, are often Witneffes of the laft Scenes of departing Mortals, or aflift at the Burial of the Dead. Their Familiarity with Sicknefs and Death is very apt to harden their Minds against fuch ferious Impreffions. This is generally the Cafe with Nurfes, Undertakers, and Sextons; and I fear it is often the Cafe with Perfons of a better Education and Under

standing; even Apothecaries, Phyficians, and, may I not add, Divines? - To fuch Perfons I beg Leave to address what Mr. Halyburton, a celebrated Minifter and Profeffor in Scotland, faid to a young Apothecary, who attended him, when he lay on his Death-Bed: "Sir, I give you folemn War

ning

"ning, that, if you become hardened by "the frequent Sight of fick and dying Per"fons, you will be in Danger of lofing all "Senfibility of Confcience, and being har"dened for ever." Man giveth up the Ghost, faith Job, and where is he? (m) Intimating, thereby, that a dying Creature is an Object of very ferious Reflection.

What is become of him or her, whom, but a few Days ago, we faw and conversed with? To what Place, to what Company, are they gone? Oh, what do they fee, and feel, and think, now? And how foon will the Question be afked concerning me alfo, where is he? Oh, that folemn, awful, Day, which finishes my Courfe, and puts an End to all the Labours of my Hand and Tongue! That Day, after which you will fee my Face and hear my Voice no more! That infinitely-important Day, when I must enter upon Eternity! Eternity! thou pleafing, dreadful, Thought! Is Death_juft before me, and the unfeen World and Eternity following after it? Gather not my Soul, with Sinners, O Lord; but grant that I may find Mercy of the Lord in that Day. — I fhall conclude this Difcourfe with the following Paffage; which cannot, I think, fail of fome Effect on all that hear it atten tively. Secretary Walfingham, an eminent Courtier and Statefman in Queen Eli

Ι

zabeth's Time, in his old Age retired into Privacy in the Country. Some of his former gay Companions came to fee him, and told him he was melancholy. "No, faith he, I am not melancholy; I am serious, and 'tis "fit I should be fo. Ah, my Friends! while

we laugh, all Things are ferious round "about us. GOD is ferious, who exercifeth "Patience towards us; Chrift is ferious, who "fhed his Blood for us; the Holy Spirit is "ferious, in striving against the Obstinacy of

tt

our Hearts; the holy Scriptures bring to our "Ears the most serious Things in the World; "the holy Sacraments reprefent the moft fe"rious and awful Matters; the whole Crea❝tion is ferious in ferving God and us; all "that are in Heaven and Hell are ferious; "how, then, can we be gay?"

DISCOURSE III.

2 Corinth. iv. 18.

But the Things which are not feen are

ETERNAL.

While we look not at the Things which are feen, but at the Things which are not seen: for, the Things which are seen are temporal; but the Things which are not seen are eternal.

IT is the Obfervation of a pious Writer,

that "Eternity so often paffeth over our Lips, "that it forgets its Way to our Hearts. "(a) We are so accustomed to the Sound of the Word, that the Thing lofes its awful Efficacy upon our Minds. Against this, Brethren, we must guard with the utmoft Solicitude. Let me, therefore, once more, engage your dili

(a) Dr. Young.

gent