92 1 Peter, I. 1, 2, [1154.

he has another day to live ; I see not how any doubt can exist in the mind of a rational Being, that the care of his soul should infinitely outweigh all the concerns of time and sense. True it is, tliat when nun act according to this truth, they are derided as enthusiasts : l)ut there is no man who, in his deli- berate judgment, does not see, that " the fear of the Lord is the very beginning of wisdom." Regard not then the scoffs of foolish and ungodly men ; all of whom, if not in this life, yet in the next at least, will applaud your wisdom. As for the angels, they, though in the very presence of their God, ■will not be so occupied with the glories of heaven, but they will have their joys augmented when they shall behold you turning into wisdom's ways. I pray you then to be in earnest about the salvation of your souls. If God has appointed an order of men on purpose to promote yoiu* welfare, and has suspended their salvation on their fidelity to you, and has taught them to consider success in one single instance as a rich recompence for the labovu' of their whole lives, surely it does not become you to be careless and indifferent. I pray you, awake to a sense of your condition: think how great a work you have to do, and how short and uncertain is the time wherein you have to do it: and now, ere it be too late, ''turn ye, turn ye from your evil wa} s ; for why will ye die, O House t)f Israel?"]