which once he so fondly cherished? Yes: we are told that, in hell, men will " weep, and wail, and gnash their teeth" with anguish : and I cannot doubt but that their self-reproach will be one of the bitterest ingredients in the cup which will there be given them to drink. When they see in what their love of " promotion" has issued, and that it has brought nothing but a pre-eminence in " shame" and sorrow, they will set their seal to that once-despised truth, that " wisdom excelleth folly, as much as light excelleth darkness."]
Permit me now to recommend to every one amongst you,
1 . A retrospect of your past lives —
[What is your estimate now of your past life ? Is there one amongst you who would not rather that it should have been under the influence of wisdom, than that it should have been so devoted to folly, as in the great majority of cases it has been? I suppose there is scarcely any one that has not, at some season or other, had moments of reflection, and formed some faint 2)urposes of amendment. Let the humiliation then expe- rienced have been ever so transient, do you not at this time look back upon it as the best hour of your lives ? and do you not regret that it so speedily passed away ? And, however deeply you may have drunk of the cup of pleasure, do you not now feel that it is all vanity, and that nothing of it remains but the dregs, which have a bitter taste ? Where is there one amongst you, who, if he should hear a dying man glorying in having lived altogether to the flesh and to the world, would not be shocked at it as an excess of impiety and folly ? Or who, if he were himself in dying circumstances, would not wish for a far different frame of mind to prepare him for his great account ? I make this appeal with confidence, and am content to rest the whole of what I have said on the testimony of your own consciences. Yes, beloved Brethren, you shall be con- stituted judges in your own case ; and I will abide by the de- cision which you yourselves shall give. Let your convictions, then, be now realized ; and let the Lord Jesus Christ be now sought by you without delay.]
2. A prospective view of futurity —
[Soon you will be convinced, at all events, whether you will listen to good instruction now, or not. Soon you will " see whose word shall stand — the world's, or God's." De- pend upon it, God's word will not change. What he has designated as wisdom by the mouth of Prophets and Apostles, he will pronounce to have been so, when he shall sit on his throne of judgment. Why will ye not then anticipate that sentence ? And why will ye not consider what your reflections