death will soon terminate our present joys or sorrows : and our condition in the future world will depend entirely on the man- ner in which we have lived in this state of probation. God has drawn aside for a moment the veil of the invisible world ; and shewn us what we shall all be in a little time : yes ; all of us shall be banquetting in heaven, or agonizing with inexpressible, unintermitted anguish in hell; and in whichever state we be, all transition from it will be prevented by an " impassable gulf." Let us endeavour to realize these awful truths. Let us believe what the Scriptures have told us respecting the issue of a worldly life. Let us pity those who, like the five brethren, are hastening in the delusive paths of ease and pleasure to the place of torment. And let us live now, as we shall wish we had lived, when our state shall be for ever fixed.]
THE HOrELESS STATE OF THOSE WHO DISREGARD THE
Lukexvi. 29 — 31. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets : let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.
IT is painful to reflect how men follow the foot- steps of their forefathers, without ever seriously inquiring whither they tend. If we examine the records of those who have gone before us, we find that, for the most part, they lived to themselves, rather than unto God. " This their way was their folly; yet their posterity approve their saying*," and, like their predecessors, rush forward thoughtlessly to their own destruction. A very striking illustration of this is given us by one who was himself a spectator of the fact which he records b. A flock of sheep, whilst going over a bridge, were frightened; and one of them jumped over the side of the bridge : the rest, imagining that he who led the way was safe and happy, followed in succession ; and were all carried
a Ts. xlix. 11, 13. b Baxter.