those who once appeared in a hopeful way, are multitudes " drawing back unto perdition." How little do both the one and the other of these imagine what awaits them at the moment of their departure hence ! Could they conceive it, how would they now be filled with horror ! how would their spirits sink within them ! How earnest would they be in their inquiries, What must I do to be saved? Verily they would no longer be so gay, and easy, and secure, as they novv^ are : nor, if we had a just view of their condition, could we speak of them but with floods of tears. Ah ! brethren, when will ye believe that such a thing is possible ? When will ye believe that such a thing is true ? But true it is, whether ye will believe it or not : I pray God, ye may so believe it on the report of the Gospel, as never to taste it by bitter experience.
But of others there are a goodly number, (O ! that God would multiply them an hundred-fold !) who are " believing in Christ to the saving of their souls." They are already brought out of Egypt, and are pursuing their journey steadily through this dreary wilderness to the promised land. They meet with difficulties ; but they are not discouraged : they go on in the strength of the Lord Jesus Christ : and speedily will they attain the great end of their faith, even the everlasting salvation of their souls. O who can estimate aright their prospects? Happy, happy people ! How shall we attempt to describe the blessedness that awaits you ? What a heaven will burst upon the soul at the first instant of its departure from the body ! And what inconceivable bliss will it enjoy in the immediate and everlasting fruition of its God ! But I must forbear. In at- tempting to expatiate on such a subject, I am only darkening counsel by words without knowledge. But do ye, my beloved brethren, have worthy thoughts of your high calling; and labour night and day to walk worthy of it.
These things may to many appear as a cunningly-devised fable : but know, all of you, that they are the very truth of God ; and that, of the multitudes who are now around you, there will soon be many weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth in the lake that burnetii with fire and brimstone ; whilst some, who have been plucked as brands out of the burning, will be seated upon thrones of glory, and singing everlasting Hallelujahs to God and to the Lamb.]
3. That the one great line of distinction between them is " faith" —
[It is by " faith that the just live;" and it is by unbelief that all others are excluded from the kingdom of heaven. Faith is indeed a hidden principle : but it is strongly operative, wherever it exists ; and wherever it operates aright, will