things or not, still the same charge must he re-iterated against us ; namely, that we have lived to ourselves, and not to God ; and have made our own inclinations the rule of our conduct, instead of adhering to his commands. This is " the course of this world ;" this is the line of conduct which characterizes without exception " the children of disobedience," and the vas- sals of the wicked one'*.
Say now, Bi-ethren, whether ye have not " wrought the will of the Gentiles ;" or, in other words, whether ye have not lived like " atheists" and Heathens"?]
Let me then proceed to shew you, II. That the time past may well suffice for such a course as that — Let me put it to yourselves :
1 . What benefit have you derived from this course hitherto ?
[Have you found that the gratifications you have enjoyed have afforded you any sohd satisfaction? You " have sown vanity ; and what hut vanity has been your recompence*^?" St. Paul puts the question to us ; " What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed" ?" Has not the creature proved, what God forewarned you it would prove, " a broken cistern, that could hold no water ?" You are come, I will sup- pose, to a season of great trouble, or perhaps of sickness and approaching dissolution. Now what consolation have you from all that ever you enjoyed? Can the remembrance of it comfort you ? Can it assuage your pains, or administer support under them ? Can it pacify a guilty conscience, or take away the sting of death? Can it gild your last scenes, and brighten your prospects in the eternal world ? Alas ! alas ! have you not " spent your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not *"?" I will even suppose that you have possessed all that Solomon himselfpossessed, and revelled like him in every species of indulgence : What do you now find it all to be, but " vanity and vexation of spirit ?" Is it not " high time, then, that you awake" from your delu- sions ' ? After having so long " fed upon ashes, and been turned aside by a deceived lieart," is it not high time that you at last see, that " you have had nothing but a lie in your right hand''?"] ^ y ^
2. What benefit do you expect to derive from it hereafter ?
[If
•^ Eph. 11.2, 3. • uStof \v kU/xoi, ib.l2. ' Job. xv. 31.
»Kom.vi.2l. "1531.^.2. ' * Rom. xiii. 1 K
^ Ibai. xliv. UO-.
il62.] A WORLDLY LIFE TO BE RELTXQUISHED. 135
[If you follow your sinful course ever so long, do you ex- pect that it will be productive of any more happiness than it has already been ? Will the creature change ? or the condi- tion of man change ? Or will God so change the whole course of nature, that you shall find in earthly things what is to be found in him alone ? But, if such changes are not to be ex- pected, what will be the issue of such a course at the tribunal of your God? Had you been Gentiles, it may be expected, if I may so speak, that you had lived like Gentiles ; or at all events, you would then " be judged by such a law as you yourselves had lived under'." But you were Christians ; and had the law of God in your hands ; yea, and the Gospel of Christ too : and therefore you shall be judged by the law, and by the Gospel, which you have so neglected and despised. I would that Christians would place themselves as at the bar of judg- ment ; and bethink themselves, what will be their view of their present courses then P Will a life of carnal ease and indul- gence, together with a neglect of God and of our eternal in- terests, be found so venial then P To have professed ourselves Christians, and have lived like Heathens, will this appear so light a matter, as it is judged now to be ? No verily : things will then be seen in their true colours ; and the care of the sQul will then appear to be, what it really is, " the one thing needful."^