s Prov. xv. 32.
and their establishment and increase in the land of Canaan, with their miserable condition when they were carried captive to Babylon : " How was the gold become dim, and the most fine gold changed ! " Thus wonderful will be our destruction also, if we continue to forget our latter end.]
God himself warns us that our destruction will be great if we neglect our souls —
[It will be sudden^ tremendous l irreme- diable* and eternal '
Let us reflect on the change experienced by the Rich Man in the parable1"; and we may conceive a little of that surprise and horror that will seize on us in the instant of our departure from the body.
Let us also, if we would escape this doom, regard the solemn warning, and the compassionate advice, which God himself has recorded for our instruction n.]
We may improve this subject yet further,
1. For the warning even of real Christians —
[We will suppose that your concern for your souls is such as to secure eternal happiness : yet a declension in holy zeal will produce a proportionable declension both in your graces and your comforts0. Let those who have ever experienced the blessedness of living nigh to God, and of being on the wing for heaven, compare it with the darkness and misery of a drooping and deserted state ; and they will see enough to make them watchful against spiritual decays, and increasingly mindful of their eternal interests.]
2. For their comfort and encouragement —
[There is a truth, not expressed indeed, but evidently implied in the text, namely, That all who remember their latter end, shall be wonderfully exalted. And what an en- couraging truth is this. Let any one view Lazarus at the Rich Man's gate, and in Abraham's bosom p, and he will see what a wonderful exaltation awaits the righteous at their departure hence. Even here the children of the devil, as soon as ever they believe in Christ, become "sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty q :" but hereafter they shall reign with him as partners of his glory r. Let this hope then animate the Christian in his difficulties, and stimulate us all to more abun- dant diligence in our heavenly calling s.]
11 Ps. lxxiii. 17 — 20. 1 Thess. v. 3. ; Jer. xxiii. 17 — 20.
k Prov. xxix. 1. ! 2 Thess. i. 7 — 9. m Luke xvi. 19, 23.
n Deut. xxxii. 18, 20, 29. ° Ps. xxx. 7. Cant. v. 2 — 6.
p Luke xvi. 20 — 22. i 2 Cor. vi. 18.
r Rom. viii. 17. s 1 John iii. 3.